ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – With their two best players watching the decisive moments from the bench, the University of the Fraser Valley men's basketball team staged a stunning rally, edging the Winnipeg Wesmen 92-84 in overtime on Friday.
In a do-or-die, single-elimination Canada West first-round playoff game at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre, the Cascades saw fifth-year stars
Parm Bains (injury) and
Sukhjot Bains (five fouls) exit in the fourth quarter. In the meantime, a six-point UFV lead with 3:30 left in regulation evaporated, with the Wesmen surging ahead 76-72 with less than 20 seconds remaining.
But after a
Matt Cooley free throw cut the deficit to three,
Jordyn Sekhon knocked down a clutch triple with 4.4 seconds left to send the game to OT. The Cascades made the most of their new lease on life, outscoring Winnipeg 16-8 in the extra session with Cooley and
Daniel Adediran leading the way, punching their ticket to the CW quarter-finals in improbable fashion.
"I'm not really quite sure at the moment," UFV head coach
Adam Friesen said afterward, when asked how his team managed to pull it off. "Obviously a great basketball game. The battle we showed in the second half was a positive, no matter how the end of regulation played out. But Jordyn's three-pointer gave us a second life, and
Matt Cooley in particular really carried us in that overtime and got us that win in the end."
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In the first quarter, the Cascades led by as many as seven points, but the Wesmen put together a 10-2 run with Don Dayrit drilling a pair of three-pointers, and led 21-20 at the end of the frame.
Winnipeg continued to surge in the second, stretching the lead to double digits, and took a 54-41 advantage into the break after star point guard Narcisse Ambanza slashed into the lane and delivered a pass to Spas Nikolov for the and-one layup.
An incredible defensive performance in the third quarter got the hosts back into it. They limited the Wesmen to four points in the quarter, sending bodies at Ambanza to slow him down and closing out hard on shooters.
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Winnipeg held a slim 58-57 lead heading to the fourth, and UFV surged ahead with
Vick Toor and
Sukhjot Bains getting into the paint to finish. An Adediran triple followed by a Sekhon drive to the rim put the Cascades up 71-65 with 3:30 remaining, but the Wesmen rallied. An and-one bucket in the paint from Donte Makazu followed by a pair of DJ Dixon free throws levelled the score 72-72, and on the ensuing Winnipeg possession, Ambanza drew
Sukhjot Bains's fifth and disqualifying foul. He went 2-for-2 from the line to put his team up 74-72 with 39 seconds left.
UFV's next possession ended in a turnover, and Ambanza and Dixon both went 1-for-2 from the line in the dying seconds to up the visitors up 76-72. But after Dixon missed his second free throw, Cooley was fouled in the battle for the rebound, sending him to the line with 13.5 seconds left. Cooley made the first and missed the second, but managed to knock the rebound off a Winnipeg defender and out of bounds. On the inbounds,
Jaskarn Bajwa missed a corner triple,
Kenan Hadzovic missed a putback, and the rebound came all the way out to Sekhon at the top of the key, and he rattled home the trey to tie the score and send the home fans into hysterics.
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"Kenan had the tip and missed, and the ball came out . . . I shot it and it felt good, and it went in," Sekhon said with a smile afterward. "It felt pretty good, not gonna lie."
In OT, Cooley and Adediran scored seven points apiece as UFV pulled away.
"I thought Fraser Valley did a really good job of adjusting in the third quarter, forcing the tempo of the game to be a little bit more in their favour," Wesmen head coach Mike Raimbault said. "And I just thought they made more plays than we did to start the overtime."
It was truly a team effort from the Cascades, who saw six players score in double figures: Toor (19), Cooley (14), Adediran (14),
Sukhjot Bains (13), Sekhon (12) and
Parm Bains (11).
Ambanza's 19 points led the Wesmen, Makazu scored 18 and added 10 rebounds, and Dixon (15), Adam Benrabah (11) and Dayrit (10) also scored in double digits.
The Cascades now move on to face the Calgary Dinos on the road in the CW quarter-finals (Friday, 6:30 p.m. MT).
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