UFV’s Nate Brown hit the game-winning hook shot with 36 seconds left in regulation.
The University of the Fraser Valley men’s basketball team found its offensive mojo in the nick of time, rallying for a 62-60 victory over the UNBC Timberwolves on Saturday evening.
The Cascades trailed the T-Wolves by as many as 14 points in the third quarter at the Envision Athletic Centre, and were struggling mightily to find any sort of rhythm offensively. But they turned things around late in the third quarter and throughout the fourth, outscoring UNBC 20-9 in the final frame.
UFV improves to 4-0, while the T-Wolves fall to 0-4.
Dominque Brooks
“Thank goodness we battled back and the guys stayed together,” Cascades head coach Adam Friesen said. “But we’ve got to come out of the gates with a lot more urgency and play at a higher standard than we did tonight. We have to find our energy based on the defensive end, not the offensive end, and if we keep this up, a loss is probably coming. We can’t keep squeaking by with close wins.”
Dominque Brooks sparked the comeback – the shooting guard from Seattle, Wash. registered a team-high 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field, and helped keep his team afloat during some prolonged scoring droughts.
Vijay Dhillon knocked down a pair of crucial three-pointers late in the fourth quarter, and Nate Brown scored the go-ahead basket on a hook shot with 36 seconds left in regulation. The Cascades sealed the victory when Franco Kouagnia’s potential game-tying jumper came up short at the buzzer.
“We were looking for someone to find some offensive spark for us,” Friesen said. “Dom started off at the start and the middle of the fourth quarter, and Vijay came on in the last few minutes to knock down some huge three-pointers for us.”
Rhys Elliott (16 points, seven rebounds) set the pace offensively for the T-Wolves, while Michael Smith (13 points) and Kouagnia (12 points) also scored in double figures.
Next weekend, the Explorers Division-leading Cascades hit the road to face the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack, who sit second with a 3-1 record.
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