Scheduled Game: @Simon Fraser*

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GAME RESULTS 1 2 T Trinity Western 48 37 85 « FINAL Simon Fraser 35 42 77

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Game Recap

Men's Basketball (Conference Game)
Saturday, February 14, 2004
TWU Spartans (85) at the Simon Fraser University Clan (77)

WE ARE IN!

Burnaby, British Columbia - How much can one heart take? It was only fitting that the Trinity Western University men's basketball team gave every one of the Spartan Faithful a Valentine's present by putting them through a roller coaster game of emotion.

The Spartans did what they needed to Saturday night against the Simon Fraser University Clan; they won. TWU's 85-77 heart-stopping win gives the Spartan squad its second straight season playing playoff basketball. The Spartans will open postseason play next week against the University of British Columbia. The only question is where the best-of-three series will take place: UBC's War Memorial, or the David E. Enarson Gym, home of the Spartan Faithful?

The win clinched a playoff spot for Trinity Western and eliminated the University of Victoria from the playoff race. A win by UBC on Sunday against Manitoba would give the Thunderbirds second place in the division and home-court advantage in the first round series that would begin Friday, February 20. A T-Birds' loss and they will open the playoffs at Trinity Western on Thursday, February 19 at 7:00pm.

Tonight's game was a team effort by the Spartans, with the exclamation mark added by TWU's Adam Friesen. The third year guard lit up the scoreboard for 27 points to pace the Spartans to their 11th victory of the season. But it was the Spartans' bench, with their clutch baskets, and the team's free throw shooting that moved TWU past the Clan. Trinity Western's bench outscored the Clans 28-15, and their free throw touch was spectacular as the Spartans went 24-25 from the line, including making 24 in a row. The clutch baskets came from Brian Banman and Adam Friesen late in the second half.

The Spartans came out playing hard, which was a given considering that this was a do-or-die game for TWU. At the ten minute mark of the first half TWU had built a five-point, 22-17 lead. The Spartan defense got tighter and after a David Martens basket in the final seconds, TWU had built a 48-35 lead.

The easy scoring opportunities ended at the start of the second half. The Clan went on a 20-8 run over the first nine minutes of the second half to cut the TWU lead to a single point, 56-55, before Adam Friesen ended the scoring drought and gave TWU breathing room, 59-55, with a three-pointer at the 7:48 mark. The basket ended a stretch where TWU had only scored eight points in 12 minutes of basketball.

The drama intensified with just over five and a half minutes remaining. SFU was poised to take over the game, trailing only 64-60, and had the Spartans in a difficult spot. SFU had forced TWU to run the shot clock down to two seconds, with the Spartans inbounding the ball near center court. Adam Friesen passed the ball into Brian Banman. Banman, who was running away from the basket and had two SFU defenders on him, went up and hit a turnaround three-point shot just as the shot clock was sounding.

The clutch basket gave the Spartans much needed breathing room, 67-64. After a made free throw by SFU's Sean Stewart, Adam Friesen took over. Friesen hit two foul shots to make the score 69-65. Then with 3:30 remaining he countered an Eric Albrecher foul shot with a deep three pointer to give the Spartans a ten point, 72-62 lead.

Forced to foul down the stretch, the Clan put the Spartans on the line to cut the Spartan lead and get the ball back. But TWU was clutch from the line tonight as they went 9-10 in the final three minutes of the game. SFU managed to cut the TWU lead to six with 17 seconds left but that's as close as they could get.

Adam Friesen led the Spartans with 27 points, on 8-16 shooting from the field, including 4-6 from the three-point line and 7-8 from the foul line. He also added six assists in his 39 minutes of play. The Clan were led by Pasha Bains and Brent Charleton, who had 21 points each.

Next up for the Spartans is the UBC Thunderbirds in Game One of the Pacific Division semi-final. Game time and location is to be determined upon the result of the UBC Sunday afternoon game against the University of Manitoba.

Game Notes: TWU is 3-4 against UBC this season and 7-3 vs. the Clan in the last two seasons...TWU went 7-19 from beyond the arc, while SFU went 4-21...TWU shot 57% in the first half, but only 28% in the second half...although the game was not a physical match there were a total of 48 fouls called, which saw 4 TWU and 2 SFU players foul out... Trinity Western eliminated the Clan from the playoffs last season and lost to UBC in the Pacific Division Final...

-TW-

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