The Cascades’ men’s basketball team opened their season with back-to-back road games at the University of Winnipeg on Friday, Nov. 1 and Saturday, Nov. 2. Coming off their last pre-season game with a win of 83-73 over the University of Victoria, the Cascades had momentum leading into the games against the Winnipeg Wesmen.
Friday night’s game started at 8 p.m. with over 180 people in attendance. Starting the game off strong, the Cascades’ Matt Cooley opened the scoring for the game, and for the Cascades’ season. After receiving a quick pass from teammate Parm Bains, Cooley was parked in front of the net with the ball and without a Wesmen defender around him. Quieting the Wesmen fans, Cooley grabbed the first two points of the game with a dunk.
Following Cooley’s dunk, the two teams traded baskets for most of the quarter. With 2:57 left, Cascades’ Sukhjot Bains scored a basket outside the three-point line, bringing the score to 13-12 for the Wesmen. Although Bains’ goal brought the score to within one point, the Wesmen were able to increase their lead by another eight points before the quarter was over.
Within the first 40 seconds of the second quarter, the Cascades were able to cut the Wesmens’ lead in half when Sukhjot Bains and Kenan Hadzovic scored two and three points, respectively. Once Hadzovic’s basket brought the team to a score of 21-17, in favor of the Wesmen, UFV’s deficit sat between three to six points for most of the second quarter.
However, with just over a minute left in the first half, Sukhjot Bains held the ball at the top of the key. With the Cascades down by three points, Bains faked out his defender and created room for himself at the top of the three-point line. With his decision to shoot, Bains tied up the game, 36-36. With only 1.03 seconds remaining in the quarter, neither team was able to find another point.
When the second half started, the Wesmen quickly broke the tie with two three-point baskets, both from Narcisse Ambanza. Although Cascade’s Hadzovic answered with a three-pointer of his own, the Wesmen continued to increase their lead throughout the quarter. The largest lead for the Wesmen in the third quarter was 11, when Ambanza scored another three-pointer with 3:04 left on the clock, making the score 57-46 for the home team. After sticking between nine and 11 points behind the Wesmen for most of the remaining quarter, the Cascades were able to end the quarter down 58-51 with a late three-point basket from Hadzovic.
Down by seven, and with only 10 minutes left to play, the Cascades were unwilling to give up. Early on in the quarter, the Wesmen were able to increase their lead by 13 points, the highest lead of either team thus far. From here the Cascades slowly chiseled away at the Wesmen’s lead, until they were only behind by two with 44 seconds left in the game. Battling for the first game of the season, the Cascades were able to force a turnover with only six seconds left of play. Unfortunately for the Cascades, they were unable to find a basket in their last ball possession, resulting in a 77-75 loss.
The Cascades followed Friday night’s game with another match against the Wesmen on Saturday. However, this game ended in a similar fashion. Despite having the lead after the first quarter, the Cascades lost 92-82.
The Cascades will be heading home for their next two games. On Friday, Nov. 15 and Saturday, Nov. 16, the Cascades will host UBC Okanagan at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre. The games will be at 8 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively.
Image: UFV Athletics
Photo: Daniel Adediran
