Kevon Parchment played the hero in UFV’s OT win over MacEwan on Saturday (UFV Athletics file photo)
One night after the authoring the most lopsided victory in Canada West this season, the University of the Fraser Valley men’s basketball team had to work overtime against the MacEwan Griffins.
They emerged with a hard-fought 90-83 OT triumph on Saturday evening in Edmonton, and with their conference regular season winning streak intact at 26 games.
“The mental state we came into the game yesterday was a lot different than today,” Cascades head coach Adam Friesen analyzed. “We didn’t look for any shortcuts to success last night, but we did tonight. Hopefully this is a reminder of how we have to play moving forward.”
The Cascades ran their Explorer Division-leading record to 12-0, while MacEwan slipped to fifth place at 4-8.
One night after shooting 20-for-33 (60.6 per cent) from three-point range on their way to a CIS season-high for points in Friday’s 123-67 victory, UFV discovered pretty quickly that they were facing a more determined MacEwan squad in the rematch.
The Cascades led by as many as six points in the first quarter, but the Griffins responded with a run of their own and UFV needed a 9-3 spurt, capped by a Kevon Parchment layup, just to tie the game 35-35 heading into halftime.
By way of contrast, the Cascades had scored 35 points in a single quarter twice on Friday vs. MacEwan.
UFV appeared to be back in control after reeling off a 14-1 run to finish the third quarter, capped by a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Vijay Dhillon, to go up 59-50.
The Griffins chipped away at the deficit throughout the fourth quarter, but the Cascades kept them at bay and owned a five-point lead (70-65) after Jasper Moedt hit a hook shot with just over a minute left in regulation.
Both teams came up empty on their next possessions, but MacEwan’s next trip down the floor was unbelievably fruitful.
Griffins guard Keith Gerdes drove the lane and finished a layup through contact from Nate Brown with 41.9 seconds remaining. It was Brown’s fifth and disqualifying foul, and he was assessed two technical fouls in the aftermath. Gerdes stepped to the charity stripe and went 3-for-3 (the and-one plus the two technicals), and the Griffins got the ball back. MacEwan guard Denzel James, with two Cascades in his face, banked in a preposterous three-pointer to give his team a 73-70 lead with 16.6 seconds left.
It added up to an eight-point trip for the Griffins, who improbably went from five points down to three points up.
But Parchment came down the floor and swished an uber-clutch triple with 9.1 seconds remaining to knot the score 73-73.
MacEwan still had time, but UFV got a stop, and Cascades guard Manny Dulay lofted a shot from his own side of centre that hit the back rim at the buzzer.
Given a new lease on life, the Cascades opened OT on an emphatic 9-0 run, highlighted by five points from Kadeem Willis and a little bit of everything (two points, two steals and two assists) from Parchment.
Nevertheless, the Griffins kept grinding, and got back to within 83-79 with a minute and a half left. UFV locked it down on defence, though, and made enough free throws to fend off the hosts.
Parchment scored eight of his team-high 22 points in OT, while Moedt, who carried the team offensively during regulation, had 21 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Dhillon (14 points) and Willis (13) both came off the bench to score in double figures.
All five MacEwan starters hit double figures, led by James with 18 points.
Friesen, reflecting on Parchment’s game-tying triple and his OT heroics, said the fourth-year guard “won us the game.”
“He took things into his own hands and was making plays all over the court,” Friesen marvelled. “The overtime and the final 30 seconds of regulation was basically him willing out the game for us.”
The Cascades play at home next weekend, hosting the UBC Okanagan Heat on Friday, Jan. 23 (8 p.m. tip-off) and Saturday, Jan. 24 (7 p.m.) at the Envision Athletic Centre.
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