LANGLEY, B.C. – The Spartans men's basketball team concluded its preseason with a 104-93 loss to the Mount Royal University Cougars Saturday at the David E. Enarson Gymnasium. 
 
Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath (Amarillo, TX) led the way for the Spartans with 25 points, five rebounds and four assists. Jack Nadelhoffer (Tigard, Ore.) added 15 points while Ethan Dasilva (Calgary, Alta.) had 14 for TWU in the losing effort. 
 
The Spartans got off to a dominant start in front of the home fans, as 7 points from Aaron Paetkau (Parksville, B.C.) and Gilbreath put TWU up 27-13 through the first quarter. 
 
Into the second the Spartans continued rolling, adding 25 more to their total and leading the Cougars 52-47.
 
Into the third quarter fouls were starting to add up and making things problematic for TWU. Daniel Lybbert (Scottsdale, AZ) fouled out of the game, while Spartans Gabe Mannes (Chilliwack, B.C.) and Paetkau each had four as Mount Royal took a 80-77 lead heading into the final quarter. 
 
Gilbreath then fouled out for TWU in the fourth, as the Cougars would continue building on their lead.
 
Despite battling back to within five points late with just a few minutes left, the Spartans would fall in their final preseason tilt of the season.  
 
QUOTABLE
Spartans Head Coach Trevor Pridie
 
"I thought we got off to a really great start, we had some good moments in the first half and did some things really well. That being said it was tough given that we were missing so many guys. We had lots of players playing out of position or being played in positions they have never had any experience in practice playing. Two guys were playing centre that had never before and one guy was playing power forward with no experience there, so offensively it gets difficult when guys are playing in positions they've never practiced."
 
NOTABLE

• TWU was coming off a 102-92 win over the Seattle Mountaineers in its previous preseason game two weeks ago (Oct. 12)
• Mount Royal finished last season 12^th in Canada West, finishing with an 8-12 regular season record. 
• The Spartans fell to Mount Royal 94-80 in their last meeting on November 10, 2018 in Langley. 

 
NEXT UP
The Spartans travel to Kamloops to take on the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack Friday (Nov. 1) and Saturday (Nov. 2) in the Canada West regular season opening weekend. 

About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) in men's hockey and as an independent team in men's rugby. The men's and women's hockey programs will begin playing in Canada West and U SPORTS in 2020-21. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 27 Canada West team championships and two BCIHL championships.
 
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