There was no doubt that the Trinity Western Spartans deserved the wild card bid. And there was little doubt on who would come out on top as the Langley based school made its first Final 8 appearance at the 2011 CIS Men’s Basketball Championships in Halifax.
The Spartans dominated the first quarter holding the defensive minded Lakehead Thunderwolves to only 6 points. Both Jacob Doerksen and Kyle Coston had a strong first-half and the Spartans cruised for most of the game. Thunderwolves Ryan Thomson caught fire in the fourth quarter, knocking down three bombs from beyond the arc and the Spartans lead was cut down to 6 points with less than a minute to play, making it the closest margin of deficit since the first quarter.
An All-Canada West National Semi-Final awaits The Spartans as they will take on Canada West Basketball rivals and #1 seed UBC Thunderbirds.
Jacob Doerkson’s side has come up on the wrong side on two occasions against the T-Birds and expects yet another rough battle.
“They are tough and physical, we’ve seen them a few times. Not much preparation to be done just some rest and come out and play hard.”
J. Searle 15 Pts, 6 Reb, 4 Stl
V.Russell 13 Pts, 4 Reb, 3 Ast 3 Stl
G.Carter 10 Pts, 5 Reb, 1 Stl
R.Thomson 12 Pts, 2 Reb, 2 Ast
Trinity Western Spartans
J. Doerksen 20 Pts, 9 Reb 2 Astl
K. Coston 20 Pts, 11 Reb 5 Ast
C. Westbrook 16 Pts 2 Reb
T. Mara 11 Pts, 10 Reb, 1 Stl
Game Notes
Rebound battle went to the Spartans with a 51-34 advantage. Both teams shot poorly from beyond the arc with TWU (3-19) and Thunderwolves (11-38).
Up Next
Familiar faces will meet at the Metro Centre for a chance to advance to the 2011 CIS Basketball Final 8 against the #1 UBC Thunderbirds. Both teams are from the same conference and this will mark their third meeting of the season with the Thunderbirds owning a 2-0 advantage thanks to two convincing home victories in the regular season
