By Jasper Moedt (Contributor) – Email
It was a wild weekend at the Envision Athletic Center (EAC). The Cascades basketball teams played back to back nights against the Thompson Rivers University (TRU) WolfPack and each night had its own special moments of excitement and bewilderment.
On Friday night the women’s game was one of the oddest finishes in recent Cascades basketball memory. The women led by 5 with less than a minute to go. Through a series of turnovers and bizarre bounces at either end the WolfPack managed to cut the lead to two points and in the final possession of the game they managed to send the game into overtime. Overtime was a back and forth affair that saw many lead changes and once again left the WolfPack with the final possession, but this time with the game all tied up. As the seconds ticked down it looked like TRU wasn’t going to get a shot up before the buzzer, but as time expired a foul was called on the Cascades. This left a unique situation where TRU was left with two free throws with no time left to win the game, and there was no mistake made on either shot leaving the WolfPack with a two point, 72-70, overtime win.
In men’s action on Friday night the Cascades put on a spectacular show, roaring out to a 42 point halftime lead. The Cascades put on an inspired performance with the return of their fifth year leader Kyle Grewal, who returned to regular minutes for the first time since before the Christmas break this weekend. The second half saw UFV rest many of their starters and cruise to a 92-66 victory.
Saturday night action saw the return of what EAC spectators have gotten used to over the course of the season with a big win from the Cascades women. In a 23 point, 80-57 victory the women never trailed and made sure there was no room for last minutes heroics from any WolfPack players. Commentating on the weekend, fourth year guard Aieisha Luyken said, “We knew that outside of the actual results of the weekend we wanted to return to playing a high quality of basketball which I think we achieved by the end of Saturday night“. A return to form for the women is something that Cascades fans can get excited about as playoffs draw near and a run at nationals is on the horizon for this talented squad.
In men’s action the Cascades managed to completely reverse the efforts of the previous night, putting up an offensive performance that they would surely love to forget. As a team UFV shot a less than average 33 percent, which, when compared to Friday night’s offensive display of nearly 50 percent shooting is a dismal effort. Despite lacking an offensive touch throughout the game the Cascades managed to retain a lead all the way down to the dying seconds when TRU managed to hit a three pointer to earn a 63-60 point win.
With this weekend’s results both teams sit in playoff position with one weekend of regular season play left. This coming Friday February 15 the Cascades will host their last regular season games of the 2012-2013 season against their valley rivals, Trinity Western University. This night will also be seniors night, where fifth year players will be acknowledged for all their contributions to the university through their years of play at UFV. Games start at 6 pm for the women and 8 pm for men so come on out!
