Scheduled Game: @Victoria*

67

GAME RESULTS 1 2 T Trinity Western - Men 34 33 67 UVic - Men 32 36 68 « FINAL

68

Game Recap

Men's Basketball (conference)
Friday, February 4, 05
TWU Spartans (67) at the University of Victoria Vikes (68)

OUCH...

Victoria, British Columbia - The Trinity Western University men's basketball team is battling to the end, but even a strong team performance couldn't prevent a tough 68-67 loss to the eighth ranked University of Victoria.

"I'm really proud of the way that our guys played tonight. They were awesome," said TWU Head Coach Stan Peters. "It was one of the best games the we have played this year."

The Spartans came out very hard to start tonight's game. Fighting with the Simon Fraser University Clan for the final playoff spot, the Spartans were in a must-win situation.

It was a defensive struggle throughout the first half with Trinity Western gaining the upper hand on the scoreboard. Strong shooting by the Spartans' David Bron and Steve Janzen staked the visitors to a thirteen point lead in just eight minutes.

Victoria battled back hard and whittled the lead down, and eventually tied the score back up at 30 with three minutes to play. Trinity Western would hold a slight lead 34-32 at the half.

The Spartans started the second half with a quick 9-2 run and seemed to have momentum in their favour but the Vikes continued to fight.

Victoria then went on an 11-0 run in a stretch of two minutes and forty-six seconds to turn a three point deficit into an eight lead, 57-49.

A steal by Adam Friesen with six minutes to play seemed to spark the Spartans. Cutting the lead with each possession, Trinity Western received another lift when Logan Kitteringham (5th yr, forward, Langley, BC) made a monster block on Chris Trumpy with two minutes remaining. Over the next few minutes of end-to-end play the Spartans worked their way back into the game and regained a two point lead, 65-63 after a Logan Kitteringham basket.

With only thirteen seconds showing on the clock, Shaun Doherty hit a huge three-pointer to give Victoria a one point lead, 66-65.

On the subsequent possession, the Spartans moved the ball up court, killing seconds off the clock. Friesen stepped up with a jumper with five seconds on the clock. The shot was good and Trinity Western were back in front.

With possession of the ball and almost no time on the clock, Victoria called a time-out. On the inbound, Doherty ran the floor into the lane and layed the ball off to Steve Moore. He immediately let the ball fly from in close and after a couple of bounces on the rim it fell for two as the buzzer sounded giving Victoria an amazing 68-67 triumph.

The Vikes improve to 11-6 on the season and have now clinched a playoff berth. They can finish no worse than second place. The Spartans drop to 6-11 and will need to sweep their final three games of the season to keep their dreams of a post-season berth alive.

The Spartans were led by Stephen Janzen (5th yr, Burnaby, BC) with 18 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds, Adam Friesen (4th yr, Abbotsford, BC) with 15 points and 5 rebounds and David Bron (2nd yr, Richmond, BC) with 14 points and 7 rebounds. The Vikes were led by Chris Trumpy 16 points and 7 assists, Shaun Doherty 15 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds, Graeme Bollinger 12 points.

The two teams will battle again Saturday night in Victoria. The game is scheduled to tipoff at 8:15 pm.

Game Notes: Victoria shot ten more foul shots then TWU, going 11-17 to TWU's 3-7...the Spartans had the edge in rebounds 30-29 and shooting percentage 29-30 (48%) to 27-57 (47%)...TWU had 26 assists to Victoria's 23...

Contributions from Victoria Sports Information.

-TW-

Play-by-Play

Photo Gallery