Pronghorns outgun WolfPack en route to victory in men’s basketball

Nov 18, 2017 | 7:51 AM

KAMLOOPS, BC —The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack shot the ball well in two quarters but it wasn’t enough to show down the speedy University of Lethbridge Pronghorns in Canada West men’s basketball action.   The ‘Pack returned from a four game road trip and fell 104-90 to the unbeaten Pronghorns.

Lethbridge is unbeaten in seven starts. TRU is 2-5.

SYNOPSIS

It was an even start to the game as the teams were tied at 19 after the first quarter. In the second quarter, the WolfPack out rebounded the Pronghorns 12-5 but found themselves down by nine (45-36).  TRU came out of the dressing room and improved their shooting (outscoring Lethbridge 34-31) in the third quarter and cutting the deficit to six.

KEY STATS:

Thompson Rivers :

Luke Morris (5th year, forward, Mission, BC) 14 points, 12 rebounds (9 def), 4 ass9sts, 2 blocks, 1 steal 37 mins

Anton Bilous (3rd year, guard, Cherkassy, Ukraine) 16 points, 4 rebounds (all def), 5 assists, 2 steals: 28 mins

Joe Davis (3rd year forward, Kamloops,BC) :14 points, 11 rebounds (7 def), 3 assists: 37 minutes

Derek Rhodes (4th year, forward, Antioch, CA):18 points, 4 assists: 31 mins

Mike Rouault (3rd year, guard, Vernon, BC) 15 points, 10 rebounds (6 def), 3 assists, 1 block, 1 steal: 20 mins

Tyus De Vries (1st year, guard, Chilliwack, BC) 10 points, 8 rebounds (6 def), 1 assist: 27 mins

Lethbridge:

Zac Overlander (4th year, guard, Didsbury, AB)  30 points 5 rebounds (3 def), 1 assist, 5 steals: 33 mins

Colton Gibb (2nd year, guard, Lethbridge, AB)  22 points, 5 rebounds (4 def),  3 assists, 3 steals : 38 mins

DeJon Burdeaux (5th year, guard, Oakland, CA): 21 points, 8 rebounds (5 def), 5 assists, 2 steals: 38 mins

Kyle Peterson(3rd year, guard, Barnwell, AB) :  13 points, 10 assists, 2 steals: 29 mins

Saren Westrop (3rd year, forward, Lethbridge, AB) 11 points, 6 rebounds (5 def), 1 assist: 29 mins

Turnovers:

TRU 24   Lethbridge 8

Score by Periods:

TRU                      19  17  34  20  –90

LETHBRIDGE:      19  26  31  28  -104

RECORD:

Lethbridge 7-0  TRU  2-5

QUOTES:

TRU Head Coach Scott Clark:

On the Contest: “They play a very fast pace and try to get you into certain spurts. They got us into a couple of spurts in the second and fourth quarters. Situations where you have to be tougher to close out a half or the game. We didn’t do that very well.   I said to the guys: “if you perform a great heart surgery but if you don’t sew up the patient he dies.”

Whats the game plan for Saturday:  “Sew the patient up”

Lethbridge head coach Mike Hanson (5th season):

What did he like about his team: “ I thought we were focused defensively which has been a problem for us. We had a couple of breakdowns but overall the intensity and energy was there. I liked the tempo and flow. Scott (TRU head coach Clark) did a good job of letting the air out of the ball. We picked up the pace in the second half and getting them ‘running and gunning’ which is how we like to play.”

On four turnovers going into the last quarter:  “It is a possession game. As a smaller team we know we aren’t going to win the battle of the boards. We have to win the possession game through turnovers and steals. We generate them but we need to get the ball back. We did that well tonight.”

UP NEXT:

The  WolfPack  and Pronghorns will end their weekend series tomorrow (Saturday Nov 18) on the Warner Rentals court.  Tip off will be 7 pm.  Friday’s game was a fundraiser for the 2017 TRUly United (United Way) campaign.