LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western opened it preseason campaign with an exciting 93-84 win over visiting Calgary Thursday at the Langley Events Centre. 

Playing at home for the first time since Feb. 8, 2020, the Spartans put on a show in front of a limited capacity crowd, with Mason Bourcier (Kelowna, B.C.) leading the charge early on and helping TWU to a tidy win. 

TWU took a 29-13 lead through the first 10 minutes and from there, the Spartans never trailed, holding off a late push from the Dinos for a nine-point win. 

The last time TWU beat Calgary in any competition was Nov. 1, 2013 when the Spartans won 87-80 on home court. 

AS IT HAPPENED 
After TWU took a 16-point lead at the end of the first frame, it was more of the same for the Spartans in the second quarter, with the Spartans extending their lead to 19 points at the break, at 56-37.

TWU got off to a high-flying start in the third quarter – highlighted by dunk from Tre Fillmore (Amarillo, Texas) – but the quarter ended with Calgary pushing back to get within 17 points (78-61) and Spartans star guard Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath (Amarillo) fouling out. However, the Spartans young players held the fort down the stretch, as Bourcier also fouled out in the fourth, but TWU kept the Dinos at bay en route to the win.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Trevor Pridie
"It feels good to get a win. It's early, so I'm not going to get too excited over a preseason win, but Calgary is a high quality team, so it's nice to win. 

"This was a nice momentum builder for us and it was good for a lot of guys to get minutes. We didn't play well last week (against Vancouver Island University), but we had a good week of practice and I thought we responded well and the intensity was awesome tonight. This is early, so you don't want to overreact to wins or losses, but we responded well tonight. 

"To beat a really good team early is huge. To get guys gelling on the court is huge. To get guys minutes is super valuable. I think we have a talented team and this is a good confidence booster. It shows that we have lots of room to grow, but that's a good team we just played. 

"Our big guys fouled out, but the young guys stepped up and closed out the game. It was cool to see guys like Connor (Platz, Langley), Leif (Skelding, Coquitlam, B.C.) and Mitch (Morgan, Vancouver), who have very little game experience at this level, finish out the game for us."

NOTABLE 
•    Prior to Thursday, Calgary had earned eight straight Canada West wins against TWU.
•    TWU's last official win against a U SPORTS team was Oct. 20, 2018 when the Spartans beat MacEwan 85-76. 

NEXT UP
The Spartans will now prepare to play Mount Royal Oct. 23 at 3 p.m. at TWU's on-campus David E. Enarson Gym.

About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men's rugby. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 29 Canada West team championships.

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