The University of the Fraser Valley men’s basketball team got off to a great start against the Ryerson Rams on Saturday evening, only to watch the Rams rally for an 82-66 exhibition victory.
In their second game at the RBC Classic, a preseason tournament hosted by the Brock Badgers in St. Catharines, Ont., the Cascades raced out to a 20-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.
But Ryerson outscored them in each of the following three quarters – they seized control in the second, blitzing UFV by a 28-12 margin to take a 38-32 lead into halftime, and gradually extended the lead from there.
“I’m happy with our performance tonight,” said Cascades head coach Adam Friesen, whose team is missing injured starters Jasper Moedt and Manny Dulay.
“We played a really strong Ryerson team and showed that we are able to compete against that level of competition. We’re not quite there yet, but as we get healthier and continue to work we hope to close that gap.”
Kadeem Willis had another excellent performance for the Cascades. Coming off a 40-point eruption on perfect 17-for-17 shooting from the field in a 104-93 victory over host Brock on Friday, the fifth-year power forward went for 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting (including 3-of-4 from three-point range) to go with six rebounds against the Rams.
Nate Brown racked up 19 points and eight boards, while Dominique Brown contributed 12 points and eight rebounds.
Aaron Best and Jordon Gauthier led a balanced Ryerson attack with 15 points apiece.
UFV limited the Rams to 39.5 per cent shooting from the field while posting a 44.8 per cent mark themselves, but came up short in the areas of rebounding (43-32) and turnovers (19-11).
The Cascades will look to build on their 1-1 record at the RBC Classic on Sunday, when they face the Windsor Lancers to wrap up the tourney.
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