Scheduled Game: WILFRID LAURIER

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GAME RESULTS 1 2 3 4 T Wilfrid Laurier 15 21 38 14 88 Trinity Western 23 18 23 27 91 « FINAL

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Game Recap

Men's Basketball (Pre-season)
Friday, October 10, 2008
TWU Spartans (91) vs. the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (88)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPARTANS COMEBACK FOR WIN OVER GOLDEN HAWKS

LANGLEY, British Columbia - Led by forward Jacob Doerksen's (3rd year, Abbotsford, B.C.) double-double (18 points, 10 rebounds) the Trinity Western University men's basketball team overcame a ten point fourth quarter deficit to defeat the visiting Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks 91-88 Friday night at TWU's Langley, B.C. campus.

"When we were down by ten the guys showed more character then any team I have ever coached. They could have folded up the tent, but they didn't. They made a decision that they wanted to play together and make it happen," said TWU head coach Scott Allen. "It was a tough game, but it is great to get the first CIS victory."

The Spartans started strong in their first CIS competition of the pre-season. TWU used a balanced scoring attack to take an early 23-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. But in the second quarter WLU started to find their range. They outscored TWU 21-18 to cut the Spartans lead to five points, 41-36, at the end of the half.

The third quarter was a long range shooting clinic by both teams. The two squads combined to shoot 63% (12-19) from behind the three point line and put up an astonishing 61 points. Unfortunately for the Spartans it was the Golden Hawks' Travis Berry (St. Catharines, Ont.) with four three's and Justin Golob (St. Catharines, Ont.) with three three's who did the majority of the damage to allow WLU to shoot 69% and go on a 38-23 third quarter run to take a ten point lead at the end of 30 minutes.

TWU came out hard to start the fourth and after two lay-ups by Doerksen and a Brian Banman (5th year, guard, Kelowna, B.C.) three pointer, the home team had cut the lead to three points trailing 74-71 with 8:46 remaining. Back to back lay-ups by Matthew Buckley (Waterloo, Ont.) extended Laurier's the lead back to seven points, 78-71with 7:43 remaining.

TWU continued to grind and over the next four minutes the Spartans went on an 8-to-1 run to tie the game at 79-to-79 with four and a half minutes to go in the contest.

TWU did not stop with the tie; they continued controlling the game and after a Doerksen to Jamie Vaughan (5th year, forward, Chilliwack, B.C.) fast break lay-up the Spartans had extended there run to 18-to-4 to take an 89-to-82 lead with one minute remaining.

Buckley hit two free throws with 30 seconds remaining to make it a three point game, 89-86, but TWU forward Jason Keegstra (4th year, Vernon, B.C.) hit a lay-up with ten seconds remaining to put the Spartans up five. Laurier's Sarif Wanas (Burlington, Ont.) hit a long range jumper as the buzzer rang to make the final 91-88.

"We got caught in believing the score from the UBC game," added Allen. "But we have a long way to go, and it is so early in the season that our improvement can be considerable as the season progresses."

The Spartans had a solid team effort tonight. They had five players hit the double digit mark in scoring. In addition to Doerksen, TWU was led by Banman with 14 points, five assists and five rebounds, Vaughan with 13 points, five rebounds, forward Lance Verhoeff (3rd year, Calgary) with 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists and Keegstra with 11 points. The Golden Hawks were led by Berry with 21 points, five assists and four rebounds and Kale Harrison (Stratford, Ont.) with 20 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Next up for the Spartans is the Canada West home opener against the Simon Fraser University Clan on Friday, October 24. Game time at TWU is set for 8 p.m. The Golden Hawks will face the UBC Thunderbirds tomorrow evening before heading back to Ontario for the Hawk Challenge Oct. 24-25.

Game Notes: TWU out-rebounded WLU 47-37...the Spartans also had the edge from the foul line going 20-33 to the Hawks 12-17...Laurier shot 38 three's making 16 for 42%, while Trinity Western shot 26 making nine for 34.6%...last night, after a full day of travel form Ontario, the Hawks fell 96-67 to the Thunderbirds at War Memorial...

-TW-

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