LANGLEY, B.C. – It was a career night from
Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath (Amarillo, Tex.), but the Spartans men's basketball team fell 99-92 to No. 8 ranked Saskatchewan Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.
Gilbreath scored a career high 38 points for TWU (2-8) prior to fouling out midway through the fourth quarter. The mark by the Spartans fourth-year guard is good for third all-time in program history, tying Jacob Doerksen (Nov. 7, 2008) and
Vartan Tanielian (Feb. 3, 2018) for points in a game.
Gilbreath shot 45% (13-29) from the field and added 11 rebounds, while Spartans forward
Adam Gehrig (Toowoomba, Aust.) chipped in with 11 points of his own.
The Huskies were once again led by Alexander Dewar, who dropped a team high 22 points after scoring 19 in Friday's win. JT Robinson also added 19 points and five rebounds for Saskatchewan.
Led by 10 first quarter points from forward Gehrig, the Spartans kept pace with Saskatchewan's high scoring offence in the first. The Huskies, who were led by a pair of 3-pointers from Emmanuel Akintunde, held a 23-17 lead heading into the second quarter.
In the second quarter the Spartans fell behind 35-20 after a 12-3 run by Saskatchewan, before a trio of 3-pointers from Gilbreath helped bring TWU to within six points at 37-31. The Huskies then pulled ahead and led 43-35 at halftime.
TWU then scored a quick five points to open the third quarter, before tying the game at 49-49 courtesy of another Gilbreath 3-pointer. After Saskatchewan once again pulled ahead, a Gilbreath layup at the buzzer brought the Spartans to within five points heading into the final quarter.
The Huskies then took a 10-point lead nearing the final minute of the game, before 3-pointers from
Isaiah Reimer (Abbotsford, B.C.),
Daniel Stead (Langley, B.C.), and
Gabe Mannes (Chilliwack, B.C.) brought TWU to within three points with 43 seconds remaining. Despite the late push by the Spartans, Saskatchewan would hold on to win 99-92.
The Huskies shot 47% (31-66) compared to the Spartans 41% (33-81) from the field. TWU held a 48-46 advantage in total rebounds.
QUOTABLE
Spartans Head Coach Trevor Pridie
"The guys fight and they play hard. We're never really out of the game. We were down big early and in the early second quarter, you're kind of wondering if they're going to run away with this. But we just fought back and clawed back. Then they took a bit of a lead and then Q fouls out and then scrapped and fought back again and made it a one possession game. The guys always battle.
"I think that's a really good Saskatchewan team. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. We threw some looks at them and I like that we were in two competitive games with them this weekend. I wanted to be in the fourth quarter and be in a game with them. I thought yesterday, we were with them early in the second half and tonight it was right down to the wire.
"Q was awesome. He just has to be a little bit more selective with his fouls and knowing when to take them. He was phenomenal. He was big time. He rebounded really well. Yesterday, he didn't have a great game on the boards and we kind of challenged him to be better and he had 11 tonight, which is huge."
NOTABLE
- Spartans alum Jacob Doerksen holds the TWU program record for points in a game with 42. Doerksen set the mark Dec. 4, 2010 in the Spartans 114-89 win against Fraser Valley.
- Gilbreath came into the weekend leading Canada West in scoring with 24.1 points per game. He was named the Canada West 1st Star of the Week following TWU's wins over MacEwan, after averaging 35 points over the weekend series.
- TWU has now lost seven straight games against the Huskies, with the Spartans last win against Saskatchewan coming Nov. 22, 2013 (75-73).
NEXT UP
The Spartans travel to UBC next weekend to take on the Thunderbirds Thursday (Jan. 9) and Saturday (Jan. 11) at the War Memorial Gymnasium.
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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