It was anything but a masterpiece, but the University of the Fraser Valley men's basketball team got the job done on the road Friday evening in Calgary, edging the Mount Royal Cougars 86-82.
The Cascades started slowly and weathered a rare off night from beyond the arc – their 5-for-24 mark was their worst long-distance shooting performance of the season, and Canada West's most prolific three-point shooter,
Parm Bains, went 1-for-11 from downtown. But a huge double-double from
Sukhjot Bains (26 points, 14 rebounds) boosted the visitors to their sixth straight win.
The Cascades (9-6) and Cougars (3-12) renew hostilities on Saturday (5 p.m. Pacific time,
CanadaWest.tv) to wrap up the weekend series.
"It wasn't the prettiest basketball," UFV head coach
Adam Friesen observed. "We had our worst shooting night from deep for the year, and I think we let our energy level dip because of it.
"You're going to have a couple games in a season where it's not the prettiest, you just hope to find a way to come out on the winning end of it. We'll get back at it tomorrow."
The Cascades struggled defensively over the first quarter-and-a-half – the Cougars poured in 28 points in the first quarter, going 6-for-12 from beyond the arc, and extended the lead as high as 12 points (40-28) after a Dylan Lutes layup midway through the second.
Sukhjot Bains took over the game at that point, though. He sparked a 15-1 Cascades run, scoring nine of those points himself and dominating at the defensive end, as UFV surged to a 45-43 lead at halftime.
The Cascades carried that momentum into the third quarter, stretching the advantage to 57-49 after a
Jaskarn Bajwa jumper. But there was no quit in the Cougars – they reeled off eight straight points, highlighted by treys from Nate Petrone and Adam Pahl, to knot the score, setting the stage for a tightly contested fourth quarter.
UFV mounted another push, scoring eight straight points to grab a 75-68 edge, but Mount Royal kept chipping away and got back to within 83-82 on Lincoln Anderson's triple with nine seconds left in regulation.
Parm Bains, though, shut the door on the Cougars by going 3-for-3 from the foul line in the dying seconds.
Sukhjot Bains shot 11-for-18 from the floor, seemingly getting to the rim at will during crunch time, and added two blocks and two steals.
Vick Toor (16 points, 10 rebounds, three assists) and
Daniel Adediran (15 points, 10 rebounds) joined him in posting double-doubles, and
Parm Bains, despite his struggles from downtown, still mustered 16 points and six assists against just one turnover.
"Sukhjot's aggressiveness and his consistent attack was what we needed when we shot as poorly as we did from the outside," Friesen noted. "We needed his and Vick's attacks to the rim to help ignite our offence at times."
Pahl (15), Petrone (14) and Moreau Amadou (12) scored in double figures for the Cougars.
