MEN'S BASKETBALL
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2014
TRINITY WESTERN (67) REGINA (59)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPARTANS PULL AWAY IN FOURTH QUARTER TO EARN WIN OVER COUGARS

LANGLEY, British Columbia – Thanks to an impressive fourth quarter flurry, the Trinity Western men's basketball team moved back up to the .500 mark with a 67-59 win over Regina Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.

With the game tied 52-52 with just under six minutes to play, the Spartans went on 14-0 run that gave TWU the lead for good. An alley-oop from Robert Rodriguez (Sacramento, Calif.) to Denny McDonald (Mississauga, Ont.) capped the run and the Spartans found themselves up 66-52. After that, the Cougars never threatened.

The win, coupled with Friday's victory over Brandon, gives the Spartans its first two-win weekend of the year. Trinity Western had split its first seven weekends before losing twice against Thompson Rivers last weekend.

The Spartans are now 9-9 on the season and are tied with UBC for the fourth and final playoff position in the Pacific Division. The loss drops Regina to 3-15.

Neither team shot particularly well with both sides finishing at 33.9 per cent from the field. The difference was the free throw line as TWU was 21 for 33 and Regina was just eight for 12.

The Spartans were led by McDonald, who had 20 points and seven rebounds while going eight for 16 from the free throw line. Justin Bakuteka (Toronto) had 15 points and five boards and Rodriguez had a game-high 11 rebounds to go with seven points. Kelvin Smith (Los Angeles) also contributed 13 points and six boards.

Regina was led by Travis Sylvestre, who had 17 points and five rebounds, while Brendan Hebert and Matthew Augustine had 11 points each. Darius Mole had a team-high eight rebounds to go with eight points.

"It was probably our worst shooting night of the year but we got to the free throw line quite a bit and we had some great rebounding efforts from a couple of the guys, especially Robert," said Spartans coach Scott Allen. "It was nice to see that he led the day. We gutted out the win and I'm really excited that we finally got two wins in a weekend.

"We found a way to win and hopefully going forward we can be more consistent."

The teams traded points throughout the first quarter as it was Regina out-rebounding TWU 14-8 to but the Spartans winning the turnover battle, with just three turnovers to the Cougars eight. At the end of 10 minutes, TWU led 16-14.

In the second quarter, TWU took a 25-20 lead and looked like the Spartans might open a sizable lead. But then, Regina's 3-point shooters went off. Trailing 28-23, the Cougars scored 12 straight points via the long ball and with Hebert's second 3-pointer of the quarter, the visitors went into halftime up 35-33.

The Cougars were six for nine from beyond the arc in the second quarter while TWU was two for six. Like the first 10 minutes, the second quarter was a tale of Regina on the glass – the Cougars out-rebounded TWU 11-7 – and TWU forcing turnovers – Regina had 13 turnovers to TWU's seven at halftime.

Regina's Sylvestre had a team-high 15 points while TWU's McDonald led the Spartans with nine points.

The Spartans Bakuteka scored the first five points of the second half to put TWU back in front 38-35. But it was low-scoring the rest of the way. The Spartans held Regina to just eight points in the quarter but only scored 12 themselves and led by just two points, 45-43, going to the fourth.

In the final quarter, Regina tied the game 52-52, but then the Spartans turned the tides. With a balanced attack that saw five different players score, TWU tallied 14 straight points to put the Spartans up for good. The Cougars got back to within eight points by the end of the game, but never looked dangerous.
    
The Spartans are on the road next weekend when they travel to Calgary to play Mount Royal Feb. 7-8 while the Cougars return home to host Calgary.

Game Notes: TWU had a 40-34 edge in rebounds…TWU had 17 turnovers to Regina's 25...it was Coca-Cola night at the Spartans games Saturday and one lucky fan went home with a $500 TWU scholarship sponsored by Coca-Cola.

-TW-