The University of the Fraser Valley men's basketball team shook off its Friday doldrums in emphatic fashion, defeating the MacEwan Griffins 94-79 in Edmonton.

Heading in, the Cascades had amassed an 0-3 record on Fridays during Canada West play this season; their 2-1 record on Saturdays indicated a much more energetic approach on the second game of a given weekend.

While their start wasn't terrific – it took the UFV squad two and a half minutes to get on the scoreboard – they heated up in a hurry, leading 30-20 at the end of the first quarter and expanding the margin from there.

Mark Johnson and Parm Bains paced the Cascades' season-high offensive output, pouring in 23 points apiece. Griffins leading scorer Jake Notice posted 20 points, struggling from the field (3-for-14) but making hay at the free throw line (14-for-16).

UFV (3-4) will have a chance to get back to the .500 mark on Saturday as they face MacEwan (0-7) in a rematch (7 p.m. Mountain, 6 p.m. Pacific, CanadaWest.tv).

"We talked about it all week, and again before the game," Cascades head coach Adam Friesen said with a wry chuckle, alluding to his team's tendency to struggle in the first game of a weekend set. "We performed better than past Fridays, but we still didn't bring the same energy as we have on Saturdays.

"We're continuing to have some slow starts, which isn't ideal. But we shared the ball nicely and found some good shots, and offensively, played pretty efficient."

After finding traction offensively in the first quarter, the Cascades built on it in the second, grabbing a 55-40 lead at the break.

The Griffins found a way to get back into the contest with a big run to start the third quarter. They outscored the Cascades 10-0 to start the second half, capped by a nice play at the rim by Dustin Gatzki off a missed three attempt and cut UFV's deficit to 55-50.

The Cascades answered with an 11-4 surged highlighted by a pair of Johnson triples – he went 6-for-11 from downtown for the game – to get the lead back to double digits. Another 11-3 run to open the fourth quarter pushed the lead to 20 points at 84-64, essentially cementing the final outcome.

Johnson added 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season, and Bains chipped in with six assists and six rebounds. Sukhman Sandhu registered 11 points, five rebounds and four blocks off the bench, and Vick Toor scored nine points.

While UFV had a solid night from beyond the arc (12-for-34, 35.3 per cent), the Griffins were utterly abysmal from the land beyond, hitting just 3-of-27 (11.1 per cent). Gatzki (14 points), Liban Yousef (12) and Abdullah Shittu (11) joined Notice in double figures.

- with files from Jason Hills, for MacEwan Athletics