ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – The University of the Fraser Valley men's basketball team came through in the clutch, clawing their way past the UNBC Timberwolves 79-75 on Friday evening at the UFV Athletic Centre.
 
In a classic back-and-forth Canada West battle, the Cascades came up with a few more critical plays down the stretch to improve to 3-2 in conference play while dropping the visiting T-Wolves to 2-3.
 
Dhivaan Bhogal had a monster night for the hosts, racking up game-high totals for points (22) and rebounds (16) to go with six assists. Courtney Anderson (17 points) and Dario Lopez (14 points, nine rebounds) also contributed offensively for the Cascades.
 
Darren Hunter, with 18 points, set the pace offensively for UNBC, and Fareed Shittu (15 points, 12 boards) notched a double-double.
 
The two teams wrap up the weekend series on Saturday at UFV (7 p.m., CanadaWest.tv). 
 
"Just super-proud of our guys as far as how they handled adversity," Cascades head coach Joe Enevoldson enthused. "I'm super-proud of their efforts tonight, win or lose – and obviously it's great we won the basketball game – but I'm proud of how hard we played, and how we played together."
 
The Cascades and T-Wolves were neck-and-neck on this night – there were 18 lead changes, and neither was able to build a double-digit lead at any juncture.
 
UFV held slim leads after the first and second quarters – 19-18 and 45-42, respectively – and they were able to pry open a nine-point edge midway through the third after an 8-0 surge highlighted by five points from Anderson.
 
The T-Wolves, though, responded with a 10-2 run of their own, capped by a Dylon Matthews triple at the third-quarter buzzer to give the visitors a 64-63 lead heading to the fourth.
 
In the fourth, an 11-0 UFV run gave the hosts a 76-68 lead, but they had to weather one more push from the T-Wolves down the stretch to seal the win.
 
Afterward, Enevoldson noted the impact of Bhogal in the paint.
 
"It's going to be nice to have him for the next three-and-a-half years," he said with a chuckle. "Obviously his stat line was really good tonight. He's just been getting better and better every night as his conditioning gets back into basketball playing mode."