Kelowna (Jordie Arthur) – It was a reversal of roles from Tuesday’s matchup as the UBCO Heat used a big first quarter performance to propel themselves past the UFV Cascades 101-87 on Wednesday in Kelowna.
UBCO caught fire early to outscore UFV 38-27 in the first and they never looked back carrying that advantage through to the end of the game.
Following a solid performance the previous night, UFV struggled from three-point range on Wednesday only managing to go 3-22 from beyond the arc. In contrast, the Heat drained 10 of their 29 three-point opportunities.
The Cascades shooting troubles also extended to the charity stripe only managing to convert on 56.3 percent of their free throws compared to 77.8 percent for the hosts.
Dario Lopez scored a career high 28 points for the Cascades while shooting 11 for 12 from the field. The second year forward was just two rebounds short of a double-double in his 25 minutes on the court.
Gus Goerzen was a force on the night finishing with a team-high 24 points, 12 rebounds and three assists for the Heat in the victory.
Cascades head coach Joe Enevoldson
“It was the polar opposite of last night. They came out and hit a bunch of shots early and scored 38 in the first and that was the difference in the ball game.”
“We need to keep grinding in practice and working on our conditioning so that on those second nights we can hit shots and have legs underneath us down the stretch. Credit to them, they sped us up and it felt like we were scoring easy but we were just trading buckets after that first quarter for the rest of the night, so we just have to be better defensively.”
“Dario [Lopez] is a very good Canada West player and we continue to see that. He’s grown leaps and bounds. Tonight, all second half, he was incredible. He scored five or six straight hoops for us and really showed who he can be down the stretch for us, not only this year but moving forward as well.”
The Cascades see their record drop to 4-6 on the season, while the Heat improve to 4-6 with the weekend split.
The Heat head to Edmonton this weekend for a pair of contests with the Golden Bears on Friday and Saturday.
The Cascades now return home for a short break before the host the Calgary Dinos on January 13 and 14. January 14 will also mark the Cascades annual Hall of Fame night, where athletes Kayla Bruce and Mark Village as well as the 2001-02 men’s basketball team will be inducted.
