LANGLEY, B.C. – The Trinity Western men's basketball team defeated the visiting MacEwan Griffins 100-93 Saturday at the David E. Enarson Gym.
 
The win marks the first time in nearly 22 months (Feb. 2, 2018) the men's basketball team has earned back-to-back wins, and is also the first weekend sweep for the team since Feb. 8-9, 2013. 
 
The Spartans were once again led by guard Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath (Amarillo, Tex.), who finished the night with a game-high 37 points (15 for 25 FG), seven assists, nine rebounds and four steals. 
 
His 37 points were the most for a Spartans player since TWU alum Vartan Tanielian dropped 38 points against MacEwan Feb. 3, 2018.
 
TWU's Jack Nadelhoffer (Tigard, Ore.) and Adam Gehrig (Toowoomba, Australia) each contributed 13 points, who improved to 2-6 on the season with the win. 
 
The Griffins were led offensively by Dustin Gatzki, who contributed a team-high 17 points (6 for 11 FG) and seven rebounds, along with one steal. MacEwan falls to 0-8 with its eighth consecutive loss to open the season. 
 
Both teams opened the game with a tightly contested first quarter, as Gilbreath continued to be a major factor for the Spartans offensively by scoring 11 of TWU's first 16 points in the game. After the first 10 minutes of play, TWU held a two-point advantage, and leading 23-21.
 
The second quarter saw TWU and MacEwan continue to keep pace with each other, with both teams continuing to trade leads. Despite the Spartans holding a late 42-37 lead, the Griffins brought it to within one point, down 44-43 at the half.
 
The Spartans took their biggest lead of the night in the third quarter courtesy of an Isaiah Reimer (Abbotsford, B.C.) 3-point shot, giving TWU a 10-point lead. MacEwan fought back to within six late, but heading into the fourth and final quarter it was TWU leading 77-69.
 
Into the fourth quarter the Spartans continued to maintain their lead. Despite TWU coming out to its biggest lead of the night at 88-75, the Griffins refused to quit as they went on a 7-2 run to bring the game back to within reach.
 
TWU's resilience however paid off, as a pair of Gilbreath free throws followed by an emphatic dunk by the Spartans fourth-year guard in the final 7 seconds sealed the win for TWU. 
 
QUOTABLE
Trevor Pridie – TWU Head Coach
 
"We treated today's game like a game seven. That was our mindset coming in, with a playoff mentality treating it like a must-win game. We knew MacEwan was going to come in fired up because this was a big game for them – and they did just that. They came out and played really well from the start, while we took a bit of time to get going. We ran into some foul trouble early which had an impact on our rotation. Some guys came in earlier than expected, and because of that we couldn't come out as aggressively as we wanted. We're going to get some workouts in, do some skills work, and get focused and ready for a run at playoffs in the second half.
 
On Key Factors
"We had guys like Isaiah step up today and hit some big shots, and Adam once again had a really big weekend offensively which was great to see, especially considering he was going through a bit of a mini slump coming into the weekend. Our ball movement today was once again really good, and so was our rebounding. This was easily our best weekend in terms of rebounding for our group, something we need to do more of with the kind of fast paced game we want to play. We've been a good offensive team all year, but playing strong defensively has been a struggle. We're hoping this can be a turning of the corner in a way, because believe it or not we are working on it and do practice defence. I saw some steps in the right direction defensively tonight. 
 
On Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath
"What do you say, I think this is his third straight 30-point game. Once the fourth quarter came I was pretty confident he would close it out for us. His decision making continues to get better, and when the ball is in his hands in the fourth quarter I think everyone is feeling comfortable. He was phenomenal once again this weekend, and he's in the midst of a really good three game stretch."
 
NOTABLE

• The Spartans were coming off a historic win over the Griffins, as they defeated MacEwan 109-97 on Friday night.
• It was just the second time TWU played a regular season game at David E. Enarson Gymnasium since the 2016-17 season (Dec. 1-2), with the Spartans falling in a pair of games against Brandon. 
• The Spartans and Griffins last series came Feb. 2-3 2018, with both teams splitting games in Edmonton.

 
NEXT UP
The Spartans next play in 2020, hosting the Saskatchewan Huskies Jan. 3-4, 2020 at the Langley Events Centre.

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.
 
-TW-