Men’s Basketball : Cascades pull away for win over Spartans
Sukhjot Bains and the University of the Fraser Valley men’s basketball team thrived in a fast-paced clash with local rival Trinity Western, topping the Spartans 96-87 on Thursday at the Langley Events Centre.
Senior guard Bains had a huge double-double with 26 points and 14 rebounds, and led a defensive effort that saw the Cascades (7-6) limit the Spartans (2-11) to 37.6 per cent shooting from the field.
Parm Bains (22 points), Jaskarn Bajwa (15) and Matt Cooley (11 points, 10 rebounds) also scored in double digits for UFV, while TWU’s Ja’Qualyn Gilbreath posted a game-high 30 points in the loss.
The two teams lock horns again on Saturday in Abbotsford (7 p.m., Envision Financial Athletic Centre, CanadaWest.tv) on Cascades Hall of Fame night.
“I think we kept them in the halfcourt more than in other games they’ve played, but there’s not a lot of teams in the league that push the ball so consistently for 40 minutes,” Cascades head coach Adam Friesen said of the Spartans. “It’s a unique challenge that they present to you. I’ve got to have us better prepared for that on Saturday.”
The Cascades had a remarkable first quarter offensively – all nine UFV players who got into the game hit the scoresheet, and the visitors led 32-17 at the end of the frame.
The second quarter, though, belonged to the Spartans. They out-scored the Cascades 28-18 in the stanza, with nine points from Gilbreath and six from Jack Nadelhoffer, to cut the deficit to 50-45 at the break.
UFV opened the third quarter on an 8-0 run, with five points from Jaskarn Bajwa, to get the lead back to double digits, and a flurry late in the frame capped by a Parm Bains step-back triple stretched the advantage to 76-61.
The Spartans battled back to within seven points (88-81) after Nadelhoffer’s and-one layup on the fast break with 2:38 left in regulation, but Sukhjot Bains answered with a layup, and the Cascades got the requisite defensive stops and free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
UFV won the battle of the boards 60-46 with Sukhjot Bains leading the way, and the veteran also did a commendable job working to contain Gilbreath – the nation’s leading scorer – as the primary defender. Gilbreath, who played all 40 minutes, still scored 30, albeit on 11-for-26 shooting.
“Sukhjot was fantastic,” Friesen said. “He was doing some stuff inside, outside, and the defence. Q is obviously a great player who’s going to score, but I think on many of his hoops, we made him have to work for it. Not every single one, but overall, Sukhjot was locked in and took the challenge that was presented to him.”
Friesen also noted it was a neat moment to coach against Spartans first-year bench boss Trevor Pridie for the first time. Pridie served as Friesen’s lead assistant coach for two seasons (2016-2018).
“Trevor’s doing an amazing job with that team,” Friesen said. “They compete so hard for him. Their record may not look great, but they’re battling a lot of good teams every week. They battled us hard, and that game could have gone either way.”
Women’s Basketball : Tuchscherer terrific as Cascades top rival Spartans
Deanna Tuchscherer staged a breakout at the expense of the Trinity Western Spartans, detonating for 35 points to lead the UFV Cascades to a 72-61 triumph at the Langley Events Centre on Thursday evening.
The rookie forward from Chilliwack, B.C. shattered her previous career high for points (21) on her way to registering the fourth-highest scoring output in a Canada West women’s basketball game this season. Tuchscherer added 11 rebounds as the Cascades (9-4) snapped a five-game losing streak in head-to-head match-ups with the Spartans (3-10).
The two teams renew hostilities on Saturday in Abbotsford (5 p.m., Envision Financial Athletic Centre, CanadaWest.tv) on Cascades Hall of Fame night.
“I think we needed that from Deanna tonight,” noted UFV head coach Al Tuchscherer, who happens to be Deanna’s father. “They really zeroed in on our game plan in kind of neutralizing Taylor (Claggett, Cascades’ top scorer). And not having Maddy (Gobeil, starting point guard) tonight, another scorer out of our lineup, it was good to see Deanna step up and showcase what she can do.”
The two teams traded buckets early, but the Cascades caught fire midway through the first quarter, reeling off a 10-0 run ignited by Lauryn Walker’s triple and highlighted by six points from Tuchscherer.
The offence dried up for the Cascades at that point – they were held pointless over the ensuing five minutes bridging the first and second quarters, allowing the Spartans to creep back to within 20-18. At the half, UFV’s lead was 28-20.
The two teams both warmed up offensively to start the third quarter, but it was the Cascades pushing the lead to double digits (49-39) heading to the fourth.
The Spartans surged in the final frame, cutting the deficit to 55-53 after Jolen Vlieg hit a layup and Nicole Fransson went 1-for-2 from the free throw line. But the Cascades got big buckets from Alexis Worrell, Claggett, and Nikki Cabuco down the stretch, and Tuchscherer closed things out in the dying minutes. With just over two minute left, Claggett fed Tuchscherer down low for a drop-step layup, plus the foul, and a couple trips later, Tuchscherer rebounded her own miss and laid it back in to make it 67-58.
Tuchscherer shot 14-of-27 from the field, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, and Claggett battled through constant double-teams to register a double-double (10 points, 15 rebounds). Amanda Thompson scored nine points, and Worrell chipped in with eight.
Kianna Wiens (16 points), Jayden Gill (15 points) and Fransson (13 points, 11 rebounds) scored in double figures for the Spartans.
Afterward, Al Tuchscherer noted his team has some areas to clean up before Saturday’s rematch – most notably, cutting down on the 18 offensive rebounds TWU was able to collect.
“Their offensive rebounding really hurt us, especially early, and then I think they were just relentless trying to get the ball into the paint,” he said. “We didn’t do a great job preventing that tonight. We’ve got a day off to prepare for the Saturday night game, and we’ll see if we can do a better job with that.”
