LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western University Spartans rallied from 12 points down, but fell short as the Mount Royal Cougars defeated the Spartans 65-58 in preseason action Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre.
Trailing 52-43 going into the final frame, TWU managed to even the score at 58-58 with 1:07 to play, but that was as close as the home side would get. The Cougars scored the final seven points of the night to walk away with the victory.
After falling behind 12-0 in the first quarter, TWU outscored MRU 58-53 the rest of the way. The Spartans finished their preseason schedule with a 1-5 record against university competition.
Dean Richey (Spokane, Wash.) led the way for TWU offensively, collecting 21 points and nine rebounds. Patrick Vandervelden (Abbotsford, B.C.) added nine points and four boards.
James Lefebvre had 17 points to lead MRU, while Derek Wolf added 10 points and eight rebounds.
The Spartan shot 29.9 per cent from the field and 22.2 per cent from 3-point range. MRU shot 32.8 from the field and 22.7 from long distance.
"I was very proud of our second half effort tonight," said Spartans coach Aaron Muhic. "We totally sold out defensively, holding them without a point in the first five minutes of the third quarter. As the game went on, I thought they were a number of kids who played really tough. I thought Matt Hayashi (Langley) played like he can late in the game and I thought Patrick was a bright spot for us. For the most part, we played well enough to win in every category except shooting.
"Obviously it would have been better to come out with a better start, but our whole deal going into the second half was that we were going to compete and I thought our guys did that in terms of effort and that's something we can build on."
The Cougars came out flying to start the game and quickly jumped out in front with a 12-0 run. The Spartans, who trailed 20-10 at the end of the first quarter, matched MRU for the remainder of the half as TWU trailed 32-20 after 20 minutes.
In the third quarter the Spartans had their best offensive quarter of the night as they outscored the Cougars 23-20 to cut the MRU lead toe nine points, trailing 52-43. TWU, who shot only 26.7 percent from the field in the first half, improved to 40 percent, 8-20, in the third quarter.
In the final frame, TWU closed the gap and tied the game late, but couldn't quite complete the comeback.
The Spartans will now prepare for their Canada West season-opener Nov. 6-7 when they will host Victoria. The Cougars, who went 2-4 in preseason action, open their season on the road against MacEwan Nov. 6-7.
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