Men’s Basketball: Cascades claw past Cougars behind Sukhjot Bains’s big night
It was anything but a masterpiece, but the University of the Fraser Valley men’s basketball team got the job done on the road Friday evening in Calgary, edging the Mount Royal Cougars 86-82.
The Cascades started slowly and weathered a rare off night from beyond the arc – their 5-for-24 mark was their worst long-distance shooting performance of the season, and Canada West’s most prolific three-point shooter, Parm Bains, went 1-for-11 from downtown. But a huge double-double from Sukhjot Bains (26 points, 14 rebounds) boosted the visitors to their sixth straight win.
The Cascades (9-6) and Cougars (3-12) renew hostilities on Saturday (5 p.m. Pacific time, CanadaWest.tv) to wrap up the weekend series.
“It wasn’t the prettiest basketball,” UFV head coach Adam Friesen observed. “We had our worst shooting night from deep for the year, and I think we let our energy level dip because of it.
“You’re going to have a couple games in a season where it’s not the prettiest, you just hope to find a way to come out on the winning end of it. We’ll get back at it tomorrow.”
The Cascades struggled defensively over the first quarter-and-a-half – the Cougars poured in 28 points in the first quarter, going 6-for-12 from beyond the arc, and extended the lead as high as 12 points (40-28) after a Dylan Lutes layup midway through the second.
Sukhjot Bains took over the game at that point, though. He sparked a 15-1 Cascades run, scoring nine of those points himself and dominating at the defensive end, as UFV surged to a 45-43 lead at halftime.
The Cascades carried that momentum into the third quarter, stretching the advantage to 57-49 after a Jaskarn Bajwa jumper. But there was no quit in the Cougars – they reeled off eight straight points, highlighted by treys from Nate Petrone and Adam Pahl, to knot the score, setting the stage for a tightly contested fourth quarter.
UFV mounted another push, scoring eight straight points to grab a 75-68 edge, but Mount Royal kept chipping away and got back to within 83-82 on Lincoln Anderson’s triple with nine seconds left in regulation. Parm Bains, though, shut the door on the Cougars by going 3-for-3 from the foul line in the dying seconds.
Sukhjot Bains shot 11-for-18 from the floor, seemingly getting to the rim at will during crunch time, and added two blocks and two steals. Vick Toor (16 points, 10 rebounds, three assists) and Daniel Adediran (15 points, 10 rebounds) joined him in posting double-doubles, and Parm Bains, despite his struggles from downtown, still mustered 16 points and six assists against just one turnover.
“Sukhjot’s aggressiveness and his consistent attack was what we needed when we shot as poorly as we did from the outside,” Friesen noted. “We needed his and Vick’s attacks to the rim to help ignite our offence at times.”
Pahl (15), Petrone (14) and Moreau Amadou (12) scored in double figures for the Cougars.
Women’s Basketball: Claggett, Tuchscherer lead the charge as Cascades blow out Cougars
With their dynamic forward duo setting the tone, the University of the Fraser Valley women’s basketball team ran its win streak to six games in decisive fashion with an 83-57 win over the Mount Royal Cougars on Friday in Calgary.
Canada West scoring and rebounding leader Taylor Claggett went for 22 points and eight boards, and rookie standout Deanna Tuchscherer racked up a game-high totals for points (23) and assists (five) as the Cascades built an early double-digit lead and cruised from there.
UFV (11-4) and Mount Royal (5-10) wrap up the weekend series on Saturday (3 p.m. Pacific time, CanadaWest.tv).
“Taylor’s really had a good year, and has led our team in a lot of ways,” Cascades head coach Al Tuchscherer said. “I’m really happy and proud of her for that. And then Deanna is just playing off of her, using the tools she has to support Taylor and free her up a little bit. The two of them are pretty hard to guard. They’re both pretty unique players – not your conventional post players. They’re a tough match-up for most teams.”
Claggett and Tuchscherer got the Cascades off to a flying start, combining for UFV’s first 18 points of the game as the visitors built a 19-9 lead after one quarter. UFV continued to cook offensively in the second, racking up 24 points in the quarter and taking a 42-23 advantage into halftime.
In the third, Tuchscherer and Amanda Thompson hit triples early to maintain the Cascades’ momentum, and they stretched the lead as high as 32 points (69-37) after Jessica Zawada drained a trey of her own late in the frame.
The Cougars caught fire from beyond the arc in the fourth, going 5-for-7 from the land beyond as they outscored UFV 16-14 over the final 10 minutes, but the outcome had already long since been decided.
Rookie point guard Maddy Gobeil returned from a two-game injury absence to spark the Cascades, scoring 13 points and going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. Zawada also had a nice game off the bench, pouring in eight points (2-of-3 from three-point range) in just 10 minutes.
Sarah Rinsky, who counted four treys among her 15 points, was the lone Cougar to score in double figures. Cameron Engen contributed nine points off the bench.
“These are really important games for us as we continue to try and improve,” Al Tuchscherer said. “We know this (Mount Royal) team has been dangerous – they’ve been able to beat some pretty good teams. I thought the first half was good – defensively, we were able to create a lot off of our pressure, and our offence was able to hit some shots.
“In the second half, I thought Mount Royal was able to make some adjustments, and we didn’t adapt very well, so we’ll have to think about that tonight.”
Men’s Volleyball: Cascades regroup after slow start, but Camosun prevails in four
A slow start proved costly for the University of the Fraser Valley men’s volleyball team on Friday evening, as they dropped a four-set decision to the Camosun Chargers in Victoria.
The Chargers dominated the first two sets, winning by scores of 25-12 and 25-13. The Cascades found their form at that point, taking the third set 25-22 and pushing the hosts in the fourth, but Camosun closed them out 25-20.
The Chargers (11-7) and Cascades (5-13) complete the weekend series Saturday afternoon (3 p.m., pacwestbc.tv).
“I’m really happy with the way the guys battled back after a poor start,” UFV bench boss Nathan Bennett said afterward. “Camosun served really tough early, and we just weren’t ready. We weren’t prepared to be in the fight from the start. But our battle level improved as the match wore on. Our intensity level went up, our will to score improved, and our level of compete was much higher.”
Camosun’s Elvind Hettervik set the tone in the first set, serving for eight straight points to open the match, and the hosts cruised from there.
In the second set, the Chargers pulled away in the middle stages, and Vitor Pereira finished the set with three straight service aces.
UFV was much sharper in the third. Back-to-back Justin Peleshytyk kills staked the visitors to a 17-12 lead, and Caleb Kastelein was dominant in the late stages, accounting for the Cascades’ last five points of the set on kills.
The Cascades hung tough in the fourth – they were level at 20-20, but five of the last six points went the Chargers’ way, thus ending the match.
Rookie left side Kastelein had an outstanding performance for UFV, pounding down a game-high 16 kills on 29 swings for a .379 hitting percentage. Peleshytyk and Landon Uy registered eight kills apiece, and Uy’s eight digs were a team-high. Setter Graham Walkey posted 38 assists.
Eduardo Bida (12 kills) and Pereira (10 kills) were the offensive leaders for the Chargers, who racked up 11 service aces on the night.
Women’s Volleyball: Camosun comes charging back to edge Cascades in five sets
The Camosun Chargers staged a comeback at the UFV Cascades’ expense, earning a five-set win in PACWEST women’s volleyball action in Victoria on Friday evening.
The CCAA No. 7-ranked Chargers twice erased one-set deficits, before finishing off the No. 13 Cascades behind some tough serving in the fifth (17-25, 25-16, 21-25, 25-18, 15-8). Camosun (13-5) tightened its grip on second place in the PACWEST, while the Cascades (8-10) slipped to fifth.
The two teams wrap up the weekend series on Saturday afternoon (1 p.m., pacwestbc.tv).
“I think we’re still learning a lot of lessons about how to close out games and being a tough competitor who doesn’t let a team back in the match,” UFV head coach Janelle Rozema noted. “We gave up some easy points where it made them feel like they could come back into the match, and that’s our responsibility. I’m 100 per cent confident that the outcome of tonight’s match was within our control. We’re walking away tonight with a lesson learned – just because you start the match strong, doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. We had some great examples of high-level volleyball, but we have to be able to do that consistently.”
In the first set, back-to-back aces from Sedona Arabsky helped turn the momentum the Cascades’ way, and they wrapped up a tidy 25-17 win. But in the second, Camosun’s Sydney Svicenec reeled off a seven-point service run in the early stages, and the Chargers cruised from there to square the match.
The third set was closely contested, but the Cascades gained some separation in the middle stages. Later on, a clutch kill from Chelsea Kidd gave the visitors a 24-21 lead, and a Camosun hitting error on the next point wrapped up the set for UFV.
Midway through the fourth, Camosun’s Hannah May got a kill to snap a 14-14 tie, and she served for the next two points as the hosts gained a three-point cushion. Back-to-back aces from Julia Kretzschmar helped the Chargers pull away and force a fifth set.
In the fifth, Svicenec was dominant from the service line, serving for six straight points highlighted by two aces as Camosun raced out to a 10-1 lead. The Cascades got it back to 12-6, but that was as close as they’d come.
“When you go to the fifth set, it’s anyone’s game at that point,” Rozema said. “We needed to end it earlier, and that’s on us.
“They were serving us tough from the beginning of the match. And at the beginning, we contained it really well, but it wore us down as the match went on. They put us in a tough position on serve receive.”
Amanda Matsui had a big game for UFV with 13 kills and 20 digs, and Alysha Cooper notched eight kills. A bright spot for the Cascades was rookie setter Haley Poier, who came off the bench for her first game action as a Cascade and excelled, racking up 21 assists.
“She was excellent,” Rozema enthused. “She got a couple blocks for us at key moments, had some tough serves, and ran a really clean, diverse offence.”
Svicenec sparked the Chargers with 11 kills and five aces, and May finished with 10 kills.
