Prince George (Dan Kinvig) – The University of the Fraser Valley men’s basketball team used lightning-quick transition offence to run away from the UNBC Timberwolves on Friday evening in Prince George, and they hung on down the stretch for an 88-76 victory in Canada West regular-season action.
The Cascades led by as many as 24 points in the third quarter, and while the Timberwolves were able to mount a fourth-quarter push to cut the deficit to 10, it proved too little, too late for the hosts.
UNBC’s veteran backcourt standouts, Tyrell Laing (29 points) and Vova Pluzhnikov (19 points), came to play, but four UFV starters scored in double figures and Zubair Seyed came off the bench to rack up a team-best 23 points.
The Cascades (6-4) and T-Wolves (4-8) wrap up the weekend series in Prince George on Saturday (6 p.m., CanadaWest.tv presented by Co-op).
“Any win on the road is a great team effort,” UFV head coach Joe Enevoldson enthused afterward.
“We have multiple guys who can finish in multiple different ways, and we are at times a very willing passing basketball team as we’re getting up and down the floor. We did a god job defensively and on the boards for the most part, and that ignited our run-outs. We had Jordy (Sekhon), Vick (Toor), DK (Dylan Kinley), and Z (Seyed) really rolling tonight, and when they all get going, we’re pretty tough.”
The Cascades took control of the game late in the first quarter, reeling off an 11-2 run capped by back-to-back jump shots from Seyed to grab a 24-16 edge at the end of the frame.
UFV continued to cook in the second quarter, stretching their advantage to 40-26 after a Seyed and-one layup. The T-Wolves responded with a quick 5-0 surge of their own – Laing’s deep triple was followed by Daniel Kopf’s transition layup – but nevertheless trailed 49-37 at the break. Jordyn Sekhon led the charge for UFV, racking up 15 points and three steals in the half.
The Cascades’ transition game was devastating in the third quarter, and they stretched the lead beyond the 20-point plateau (64-43) after Vick Toor’s steal yielded a fast-break layup for Seyed at the other end.
The lead was 76-54 heading to the final frame, but the T-Wolves opened on a 14-5 run, aided by four UFV fouls in three minutes and capped by a Pluzhnikov trey, prompting a Cascade timeout. The UFV squad ultimately found its equilibrium. Points were suddenly tough to come by – they went just 5-for-17 from the field in the fourth after shooting at least 50 per cent in each of the first three quarters – but they were able to tighten things up defensively and maintain a double-digit lead down the stretch.
“They (the T-Wolves) got themselves to the free throw line, and a couple threes,” Enevoldson noted, reflecting on UNBC’s fourth-quarter run. “A 20-point lead with them isn’t necessarily safe as we’ve seen already this year. Credit to them – they’ve got veteran guys with a lot of character, and they’re not going to go away. Prince George is a notoriously tough place to win, and we scored just enough in the fourth.
“Late in the fourth, we really dialed in and attacked some mismatches. We’ve got to learn from it, get better, and do it again tomorrow.”
Sekhon finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, Toor had 12 points and seven assists, Kyle Claggett contributed 12 points and a team-high nine boards, and Kinley notched 10 points and seven rebounds.
Laing and Pluzhnikov, UNBC’s lone double-digit scorers, knocked down four triples apiece, and centre Spencer Ledoux had nine points and nine boards.
