LANGLEY, British Columbia – A late rally by Trinity Western fell short as Spartans dropped a 90-81 decision to the No. 5 Alberta Golden Bears Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The loss drops the Spartans to 9-5, while the win improves the Golden Bears to 7-5.
 
Mason Bourcier (Kelowna, B.C.) with 26 points, Josh Belvin (Long Beach, Cal.) with 15 points, David Mutabazi (Delta, B.C.) with 13 points, and Tre Filmore (Amarillo, tx) with 12 points led the Spartans. While Abdullah Shittu (Edmonton) with 27 points, and Adam Paige (Surrey, B.C.) with 21 points, and Lars Ishimwe (Edmonton) with 15 points, and Isaac Simon (Regina, Sask) with 12 points led the Golden Bears.
 
The first half was an evenly played game with TWU leading 21-17 at the end of the first quarter, and Alberta leading by four points, 44-40 at halftime. The third quarter belonged to the Bears as Alberta outscored TWU 23-14 to take a 13-point, 67-54, lead into the final frame. The Bears maintained the lead through the first half of the final quarter, 77-63, with the Spartans closing to single digits late in the game to make the final a nine-point loss for the TWU.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Trevor Pridie
 "Obviously, we didn't come out as sharp as we did yesterday. I thought offensively we struggled to get into a real flow. They did a good job and credit their defence; they caused us a lot of turnovers and a lot of problems. We didn't execute offensively and we took some tough shots that translated into us either not getting back on defence or not playing defence as a team like we did last night."
 
"They are a really good team and we knew that coming in and they kind of showed it today. You expect a team like theirs to respond well after losing last night. I'm not surprised they came out and played a really good game. We just didn't show up tonight like we did yesterday."
 
"Overall still a positive weekend. A split with Alberta is good for us. Lots of positives to walk away with and take away and get better at."
 
NOTABLE
• The Spartans are 6-23 lifetime against the Bears.
• TWU shot 41.8 percent (28-67) from the field, 40 percent (14-35) from the three-point line, and 84.6 percent (11-13) from the foul line. While Alberta shot 49.3 percent (24-45), 40.9 percent (15-21), and 71.4 percent (15-21) respectively.
• The Bears had a 42-35 edge in rebounds.
• The Spartans defeated the Bears 91-77 Friday night.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will stay at home for two games next Friday and Saturday against the UBC Okanagan Heat. Game times at the Langley Events Centre are set for 6 p.m. and 5 p.m. Both games can be seen live on CanadaWest.TV.
 
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 13 U SPORTS team championships and 32 Canada West team championships.
 
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