Prince George (Dan Kinvig) – The University of the Fraser Valley men’s basketball team showcased its offensive efficiency and depth on Saturday, wrapping up a weekend sweep of the UNBC Timberwolves on the road.
The Cascades were on target from the field, draining 52.4 per cent of their shots in an 87-83 victory. Equally impressive, they did it without a 20-point scorer, as six players scored in double figures.
Dario Lopez, UFV’s outstanding rookie forward from Spain, came off the bench to score a career-high 16 points to go with eight rebounds. Kyle Claggett scored 15, Dylan Kinley had 14, and Vick Toor, Jordyn Sekhon and Zubair Seyed contributed 10 points apiece as the Cascades improved to 7-4, good for third in the West Division.
The Timberwolves (4-9) also had it going offensively, shooting 55.6 per cent from the field led by Tyrell Laing’s 19 points, but trailed by double digits for much of the night and saw a late comeback effort fall short.
“I’m a firm believer that the whole should be greater than the sum of the parts,” said Cascades head coach Joe Enevoldson, whose squad was coming off an 88-76 win over the T-Wolves on Friday.
“We want to have great balance – we had five guys in double digits last night, and six tonight. When you have a multitude of scorers on the floor, defences can’t load up against one or two guys. We usually have five on the floor who can give you 15 points, depending on the night. We obviously have guys who can pop off and go for 20 or 30, as Vick and Z have at times, but I like having five or six guys in double figures. You become extremely hard to guard that way.”
The Cascades started strongly behind 6’9” centre Claggett, who scored UFV’s first six points of the game, and the visitors gradually built a 23-13 cushion at the quarter break.
UFV led by as many as 13 in the second quarter, but the T-Wolves caught fire from beyond the arc to extinguish the Cascade advantage in a hurry. Laing had two triples during a 16-2 run, and David Tiessen and Payton Tirrell also connected from downtown during that stretch as the hosts went ahead 35-34. A trey from Jake Willemsen finally lifted the lid on the basket for UFV, igniting an 8-0 run that saw the Cascades take a 42-39 edge into halftime.
UFV led by as many as nine points in the third, with Sekhon and Lopez leading the way – Sekhon scored eight points in the frame and Lopez struck for seven. The T-Wolves responded with seven in a row to cut the deficit to 61-59, but the Cascades finished the third with a flourish. Back-to-back treys from Lopez and Kinley restored a double-digit lead, 69-59 heading to the fourth.
The Cascades continued to cook from downtown, as Kinley and Toor drained triples to open the fourth, pushing the lead to 75-59. They were able to maintain a comfortable margin for much of the quarter, but a late push by the T-Wolves saw them draw to within 84-79 in the aftermath of a Vova Pluzhnikov three with 1:45 remaining. A Kinley free throw and a Claggett runner in the paint pushed the lead back to eight, though, and the dying seconds were drama-free.
UNBC got 17 points apiece from forwards Spencer Ledoux and Fareed Shittu, and Payton Tirrell scored 16.
Toor finished with eight assists on the night, moving into second place on the Cascades’ all-time assists list. Manny Dulay sits atop the charts with 306, while Toor (281) moved ahead of Kevon Parchment (277). Sam Freeman (197) and Zeon Gray (180) round out the top five.
“I thought it was a grind game, and we knew it would be,” Enevoldson said. “It was up on our board – we needed to be willing to grind it out on the road on the second night. We were able to come up big on the o-boards, especially late in the fourth quarter. I thought Dario came off the bench and gave us a big spark, and so did Ahmad (Athman). It was another great team effort. I just keep emphasizing team.”
The Cascades men’s basketball team is back in action next week with a trio of games in B.C.’s Interior – they play the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on Thursday, then visit the UBC Okanagan Heat for a Saturday-Sunday set. Catch all the action at CanadaWest.tv presented by Co-op.
