Scheduled Game: @ Saskatchewan - Canada West Quarter-Final

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GAME RESULTS 1 2 3 4 T Trinity Western 18 26 20 19 83 Saskatchewan 26 18 24 30 98 « FINAL

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Game Recap

MEN’S BASKETBALL (CANADA WEST)
FRIDAY, FEBRURARY 24, 2012
CANADA WEST PLAYOFFS
SASKATCHEWAN (98) TRINITY WESTERN (83)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPARTANS DROP GAME 1 IN SASKATCHEWAN

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan – The Trinity Western men’s basketball team lost Game 1 of its best-of-three series with No. 3 Saskatchewan 98-83 Friday at the Physical Activity Centre.

Reigning Canada West MVP Jamelle Barett and his 36 points were the difference on this night as the Huskies overcame a gutsy effort from the underdog Spartans that saw the visitors keep the game within four points up until the fourth quarter. But in the final frame, Saskatchewan outscored Trinity Western 30-19 en route to the 15-point win.

Barrett led Saskatchewan with 10 points in the fourth quarter but none was bigger than the 3-pointer he hit with 6:54 remaining that give the Huskies what would be an insurmountable 12-point advantage. From there the Huskies never looked back, pulling away down the stretch.

Saskatchewan shot 58.7 per cent from the field, compared to Trinity Western’s 46.5 per cent as the Huskies took a 1-0 lead in the series. The winner of the series earns a trip to the Canada West Final Four. Game 2 goes Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. and can be seen live on www.canadawest.tv. Game 3, if necessary, will be Sunday at 8:00 p.m. If the Huskies win the series, Saskatchewan would host the Canada West Championship for the first time in history.

Saskatchewan had three other players who finished with double-digit point totals on the night.  Fifth-year guard Duncan Jones finished with 14 while fifth-year forward Michael Lieffers and second-year Ben Baker finished with 12 and 10 points respectively.
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Trinity Western was led by fifth-year guard Kyle Coston who put up a team-high 25 points while going 3-5 from beyond the arc.  Fifth-year forward Sean Peter scored 16 points but only managed four points in the second half.

“We played well for three quarter but then fatigue and mental breakdowns became part of the game in the fourth quarter,” said Spartans coach Scott Allen. “They got a couple of back-breaking runs on us and that was the difference. We need to shore up our decision-making in transition for tomorrow night and also do a better job of taking the ball out of their point guard’s hands. That was our plan but we just didn’t execute it for the entire game.”

The Huskies got off to a good start in the first quarter as they were the dominant team over the opening 10 minutes and opened up an eight-point lead, 26-18, by the end of the quarter. After Barrett hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, Saskatchewan went into the second frame with the crowd buzzing and all the momentum on its side.

But in the second quarter, the Spartans turned the tides. Led by Coston, who had eight points in the first 2:19 of the frame, Trinity Western got right back in the game, knotting the score at 28-28, before a Calvin Westbrook 3-pointer gave the Spartans their first lead of the night 31-28. The teams went back and forth the rest of the quarter and, with another late jumper from Barrett, the Huskies tied it up 44-44 going into the break.

In the third quarter, neither team opened more than a six-point led as both sides kept a consistent pace, albeit with the Huskies earning a slight four-point advantage, 68-64, heading to the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Saskatchewan’s Baker, who was badly cut in the first half returned to the floor and helped spark the Huskies with eight points in the frame.  Saskatchewan got the first four points of the quarter to open an eight-point lead and from there, they never trailed by less than six.

Game Notes: Saskatchewan won the battle on the glass, out-rebounding the Spartans 46-29…TWU was 33.3 per cent from 3-point range while Saskatchewan was 25.0 per cent…Saskatchewan had 24 turnovers to TWU’s 18.
 
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