Edmonton, AB - Dario Lopez had game-highs in points and rebounds, while
Dhivaan Bhogal followed closely behind, as the Cascades Cruised to a 102-71 victory over the MacEwan Griffins to open the Canada West campaign.
With the win, the Cascades start the season 1-0, while the Griffins fall to 0-1.
The Cascades shot out to a fantastic start, leading 26-5 in the first quarter thanks in part to Bhogal's 12 points in the opening frame.
UFV carried a 31-14 lead into the second, but the Griffins started to find their footing. MacEwan outscored the Cascades 42-40 in the middle two frames, but still found themselves trailing 71-56 headed into the fourth. The Cascades pulled away once again in the final quarter to finish it off.
"We jumped on them early" noted UFV head coach Joe Enevoldson. "I thought our energy was really good early. We were really dialed in on the task at hand and we did a really good job of following the scout."
Lopez had 21 points and 12 rebounds on the night, while Bhogal had 20 points and nine rebounds, and Courtenay Anderson added 18 points in the Cascades win.
Job janda, Scottie Austin, and Taylor Cook all had 12 points on the night for the Griffins.
"Our bigs really made a difference. Dhivaan had a really great performance in the game — and when he has a great performance, we are going to be a really tough basketball team."
"I thought we rebounded really well tonight, and Dario had a great night both rebounding and scoring for us."
The two teams face each other again on Saturday (3 p.m., canadawest.tv) to close out their opening week.
"In Canada West it's always tough to win on the road" explained Enevoldson, "we just have to come in and try to grind out another one tomorrow".
