Scheduled Game: FRASER VALLEY

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GAME RESULTS 1 2 T Fraser Valley 47 42 89 « FINAL Trinity Western 32 27 59

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Game Recap

Men's Basketball (Non-conference)
Saturday, October 08, 2005
TWU Spartans (98) vs. the UCFV Cascades (89)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Spartans Win Pre-season Valley Tilt
Erickson's career night leads TWU to victory over UCFV

LANGLEY, British Columbia - Spartan point guard Michael Erickson (2nd yr, Aldergrove, BC) took full advantage of his first start on TWU soil. The second year guard went-off for a career best 22 points, nine rebounds to lead the Spartans to a 98-89 victory over the University College of the Fraser Valley Cascades Saturday night at TWU's Langley campus.

"In our old style of play Mike's roll would have been limited, but in an up-tempo game he can use his quickness and athleticism," said TWU Head Coach Stan Peters. "He is a great athlete, people just do not understand that, and that is one of the reasons that we wanted to change our style of play."

The Cascades, who will begin Canada West play next season, gave the Spartans everything they could handle in the run and gun contest. The rival from Abbotsford were looking for the upset as they held a slim one point lead, 80-79 with just over seven and a half minutes remaining.

But then the constant TWU pressure and the pace of the game began to take its toll on the Cascades. UCFV had seven turnovers in the final six minutes, while TWU had six steals and shot 57% down the stretch.

"Our whole philosophy is that we are going to wear teams down so that in the last five minutes, that is where we will win the game," said Peters. "We want to keep our heads up and we want to out work our opponent. Because we believe that if we are struggling that does not matter, in the last five minutes we will force the play and we will take control of the game."

At the start of the second half both teams came out running and attacking the basket. The Cascades were able to convert on a couple of their early chances to take a 6-3 lead just over 30 seconds into the game. As the half continued the Spartans gradually found their range. A couple of free throws by Brian Banman with six minutes remaining gave TWU their biggest lead of the night, 40-30.

But every time the Spartans looked like they were going to blow the game open the Cascades came scrambling back. With 4:30 remaining the UCFV had cut TWU's lead to five points, trailing 44-39.

The Spartans finished the half with 13 offensive rebounds, but the Cascades' Jamie Vaughan's 21 first half points and team shooting of 53% meant that TWU was only able to take a six point lead, 53-47 into the break.

The Cascades came out strong to start the second half. After TWU took a 57-47 lead a minute and a half into the second period, UCFV went on a four minute 16-5 run to take a 63-62 lead with 14:36 remaining.

The two teams exchanged leads over the next seven minutes, then with the game tied 80-80 the Spartans made their game ending run.

"It couldn't have been a better script for us tonight. We have a ton of work to do, but we have a lot of new players and a new system and we are having fun with it," said Peters. "Just wait till we get comfortable with each other and our conditioning gets better; it is going to be unbelievable."

In addition to Erickson, TWU was led by Brian Banman (3rd yr, guard, Kelowna, BC) with 18 points and Nils Dobszinsky (3rd yr, post, Port Townsend, WA) with 16 points. UCFV's Jamie Vaughan (Chilliwack, BC) led all scorers with 28 points. While Shane Heuring (Maple Ridge, BC) was perfect for the Cascades ending with 15 points, 12 rebounds while going 4-4 from the field, 1-1 from behind the arc and 6-6 from the foul line.

Next up for the Spartans is their Canada West league opener at the University of British Columbia on Saturday, October 22. Game time at the Point Grey campus is set for 8 pm. The game will be broadcast live on UBC's CiTR 101.0 fm.

Game Notes: Erickson scored 17 points in the second half, including ten straight ...The two teams had 41 rebounds apiece...UCFV shot 48% (27-56), while TWU shot 45% (32-71)...the Cascades had 35 turnovers, TWU had 23...Spartans had the edge in steals 22-13...TWU went 9-16 in foul shots in the final seven minutes...

-TW-

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