LANGLEY, British Columbia –The Trinity Western Spartans battle the Mount Royal Cougars for 35 minutes, but the Cougars had the better of the Spartans over the final five minutes as MRU defeated TWU 93-81 Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The loss drops the Spartans to 2-14, while the win moves the Cougars to 7-9.
 
TWU trailed 32-19 after the first quarter and 48-47 at the half.
 
Third-year centre Connor Platz (Langley, B.C.) with 21 points, 11 rebounds, five blocked shots, and four assists, third-year guard (Delta, B.C.) with 19 points, six rebounds, four assists, and four steals, second-year forward Aristote Kalala (Langley, B.C.) with 12 points, two rebounds, and two blocks, and fourth-year guard Vlad Mihaila (Surrey, B.C.) with 10 points, and five rebounds were all double-digit scorers for the Spartans.
 
Holt Tomie was two rebounds shy of a triple-double finishing with 20 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. While Keivonte Watts led the Cougars with 25 points, five rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans struggled in the second five minutes of the opening quarter as the Cougars turned a two point, 13-12 lead into a 32-19 lead after 10 minutes of play. But in the second quarter TWU's Platz started to heat up from outside and his 18 first half points gave the Spartans a 28-16 run to trail the Cougars by one point, 48-47 after 20 minutes.
 
Out of the break Mount Royal outscored Trinity Western to expand their lead to eight points, 60-52 after five minutes of second half play. The Cougars maintained their lead over the next five minutes as the quarter ended with MRU leading by nine points, 73-64.
 
TWU came out strong to start the final quarter, with a 10-4 run, and cut the deficit to three points after a Marcus Shankar layup made it 77-74 for the Cougars with 7:10 remaining in the game. With five minutes to go, and a three-point lead, 82-79, MRU took over the game and outscored TWU 11-2 to earn the 12 points, 93-81 win.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Trevor Pridie
"Unfortunately, it was another disappointing night. We made life way too easy for Tomie and Watts and they took advantage and had a really good weekend. There were moments where we showed some fight to make it close, but we let a key game slip away. It's disappointing. It was nice to see Connor hit some key threes to get us back in the game in the first half, but we just weren't able to find the rhythm and pace we needed in the second half."
 
NOTABLE

• TWU finished the night shooting 47.2 percent (34/72) from the field, 37 percent (10/27) from the three-point line, and 42.9 percent (3/7) from the foul line. MRU finished shooting 51.4 percent (37/72), 46.4 percent (13/28), and 75 percent (6/8) respectively.
• Both teams finished with 37 rebounds.
• The Spartans finished with 15 turnovers, while the Cougars finished with 13.
• Last night the Spartans lost 95-77 to the Cougars
• The Spartans are 5-9 lifetime against the Cougars.
• In preseason play this season the Spartans defeated the Cougars 105-72 on October 15 in Kelowna, B.C.
• The last time the Spartans defeated the Cougars in conference play was 71-54 on February 4, 2017
• TWU is 4-6 in conference play against MRU.

 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now host the UNBC Timberwolves on February 2 and 3 for the final home conference games of the season. Game times are set for 8 p.m. and 6 p.m. and 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 14 U SPORTS team championships and 34 Canada West team championships.
 
-TW-