ABBOTSFORD, British Columbia– Trinity Western fourth-year centre Connor Platz (Langley, B.C.) had a career-best 33 points, to go with six rebounds, and four assists, to lead the Spartans to a thrilling 97-94 overtime win over the Fraser Valley Cascades Friday night at the UFV Athletic Centre in Abbotsford, B.C. The win improves the Spartans to 11-8, while the loss drops the Cascades to 9-10.  
 
TWU led 48-39 at halftime and trailed 61-58 entering the fourth quarter.
 
Fifth-year guard Jerric Palma (Richmond, B.C.) also hit double digits in scoring finishing with 23 points, four rebounds, and four assists, as did fourth-year guard David Mutabazi (Delta, B.C.) with a double-double of 22 points, and 10 rebounds for the Spartans
 
The Cascades had five players hit double digits in scoring with Dario Lopez with a double-double of 23 points, and 14 rebounds, and Clay Kurtz with 21 points, and three rebounds leading the way.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will Canada West conference play tomorrow night against the Cascades. Gametimes are set for 5 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on Canada West TV.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Trevor Pridie
"Gutsy win. Connor was fantastic, hit big shots, and made big plays throughout the game for us.  Losing Juice early in the game we needed someone to step up and we had two big performances off the bench with Caleb and Tyrone. "
 
"Clinching the third seed in the Pacific was the goal at the start of the season so it's great to accomplish that. We started the season 0-5 so to end the season with the third seed shows a lot of maturity and character in this group."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Fifteen first-half points each from TWU's Platz and Mutabazi helped give the Spartans a nine-point lead at the break, but a huge 10-point third quarter from UFV's Dario Lopez helped his team take a 61-58 lead into the fourth.
 
A Caleb Gremaud triple tied the game for TWU with seven minutes on the clock, and the teams would trade scores for much of the remaining frame until Jerric Palma hit a three to put the Spartans up five with under two minutes to go. A Clay Kurtz steal and dunk with 31 seconds left cut the deficit to three, and after a miss, the Cascades got the ball back with eight seconds remaining and advanced the ball after a time-out. Hernandez got the ball in his hands off the inbound and banked in the game-tying triple to send it to an extra frame.
 
The teams once again traded scores for much of OT, but TWU would edge out a four-point lead in the late stages. A Lopez jumper cut the deficit to two with eight seconds left, and UFV was forced to send Palma to the line. He made one of two free throws, and a last-gasp chance from UFV was defended well to finish off the game.
 
NOTABLE 

• The Spartans finished the night shooting 49.3 percent (36-73) from the field, 40 percent (10-25) from the three-point line, and percent 53.6 percent (15-28) from the foul line. The Cascades shot 50.7 percent (37-73), 22.2 percent (6-27), and 77.8 percent (14-18) respectively.
• The Cascades had a 46-37 edge in rebounding.
• TWU finished with 14 steals to UFV's five. The Spartans had 13 turnovers to the Cascades 17.
• The Spartans are currently 19-25 lifetime against the Cascades.
• Platz's previous career best was 26 points against the Victoria Vikes last season on January 13.
• Last week the Spartans swept the UNBC Timberwolves 76-66, and 93-63 at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C.

The Cascades were off last week and are currently on a four-game winning streak.
 
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.
 
About Trinity Western University
Recognized for quality, TWU has received seven consecutive A+ rankings for Quality of Teaching and Learning, holds three Canada Research Chairs, and wins national championships in U SPORTS. More importantly, lives are changed at TWU through its whole-person, Christ-centred approach to education. With a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree-completion programs, TWU equips leaders of character and competence to make a positive impact in the lives of others.
 
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