Jordyn Sekhon exploded for a career-high 30 points to lead the University of the Fraser Valley men's basketball team to a 97-79 victory over the UBC Okanagan Heat on Sunday afternoon in Kelowna.
It was the epitome of a bounce-back effort, both for Sekhon individually and the Cascades as a group. On Saturday, the UFV squad had
dropped a 91-79 decision to the Heat, and Sekhon was limited to three points on 1-of-6 from the field.
On Sunday, the veteran swingman out of Abbotsford's W.J. Mouat Secondary flipped the script – he went 9-for-11 from the field, highlighted by five three-pointers, and was flawless from the free throw line (7-for-7) as the Cascades won big.
The result allowed UFV (9-5) to clinch third place in the West Division; the seventh-place Heat fell to 2-12.
"After a three-point performance yesterday, I had to come out and do something," Sekhon said with a wry chuckle afterward. "I feel like I came with a little bit better outlook today. We were frustrated to lose yesterday, so that gave us a little bit of extra fire, and we needed a win to clinch third.
"I my role, it can be hard to get going (offensively) – I'm not a primary ball-handler. But it was nice to see that first shot go in. And I feel like once the first few went in, I was looking to get the ball in my hands more at the end of the game. It was a cool feeling, because I haven't been in that position very often."
In stark contrast to Saturday's series opener, the Cascades got off to a flying start behind Sekhon's hot shooting. He drained a pair of three-pointers and converted a fast-break layup as UFV opened a 12-3 lead, prompting a UBCO timeout.
The Cascades took a 22-15 lead into the second quarter, and they opened on a 10-2 run to stretch the advantage to 32-17. The highlight was a fast-break dunk from
Jamar Ergas, ignited by a steal from
Ahmad Athman and subsequent quick passes from
Jake Willemsen and
Zubair Seyed to set up Ergas for the one-handed throwdown. They maintained that double-digit cushion into the break, up 53-37, with Sekhon piling up 15 points in the half despite being limited to nine minutes due to foul trouble.
The Heat mustered a 24-9 surge to open the third quarter – their aggressive defence was forcing turnovers, and they were able to get to the rim offensively to cut the deficit to 62-61. Sekhon stayed hot for the Cascades, though – he scored five quick points to end the frame as UFV took a 73-67 lead to the fourth.
Sekhon and
Aidan Wilson ignited an 8-2 run to open the final frame, restoring the double-digit lead, and UFV pulled away from there.
The Cascades was -13 on the boards in Saturday's loss, but they battled the taller Heat to a near-stalemate on Sunday. UBCO's rebounding edge was just 42-41.
Wilson had a big game off the bench for UFV, scoring 16 points and counting five offensive rebounds among his six total boards.
Dylan Kinley (15 points) and
Kyle Claggett (11) also scored in double figures, and
Vick Toor dished out six assists.
UBCO's Kevin Hamlet had another big game for the Heat – after racking up 27 points on Saturday, he scored 22 in the rematch and added nine rebounds. BB Chuks-Mady (13) and Liban Yousef (12) also registered double-digit points for the hosts.
"We lost the rebounding battle yesterday, but today we were getting rebounds, deflections and steals, and getting out in transition," Sekhon noted. "It was overall just a better effort from the whole team."
