The University of the Fraser Valley men’s basketball team authored their most consistent 40-minute performance of the season on Friday evening, beating the Thompson Rivers WolfPack 83-73 on the road in Kamloops.
The Cascades raced out to an 18-point lead in the second quarter and fended off a WolfPack rally in the fourth, boosting their Explorers Division-leading record to 5-0 behind an 18-point outing from standout fourth-year guard Kevon Parchment.
The second-place WolfPack, who got a game-high 22 points and 13 rebounds from their sweet-shooting 6’10” forward Josh Wolfram, fell to 3-2.
The two teams clash again on Saturday at 7 p.m. to wrap up the weekend set, preceded by the UFV-TRU women’s game at 5 p.m. The games will be webcast at ufv.canadawest.tv.
“This was our best game of the year,” Cascades head coach Adam Friesen said. “Every year our goal is to get better every time we step out on the floor, and this was by far the most consistent we’ve played, in league anyway.
“I just liked how we played at a high pace and with an aggressiveness level for an extended period of the game. For us, that’s what it’s going to take for us to play our best. Defensively, we had some lapses, but we made life hard on them, and offensively we got out in transition for some easy ones.”
The Cascades’ lead was at 15 points (63-48) heading into the fourth quarter, but the WolfPack reeled off an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 68-61 with just under seven minutes left in regulation.
UFV responded with a quick 13-6 surge to regain control, highlighted by a steal and breakaway dunk by Kadeem Willis, and TRU never seriously threatened again.
Parchment had struggled in the Cascades’ last game, shooting 3-for-16 from the field for 11 points in a 62-60 victory over the UNBC Timberwolves last Saturday. He put together a fantastic bounce-back effort against TRU, racking up his team-high point total on 7-for-13 shooting, along with seven rebounds and four assists.
Remarkably, five other Cascades scored in double figures – Willis (14), Manny Dulay (14), Dominique Brooks (13), Nate Brown (12) and Vijay Dhillon (10). Fifth-year centre Jasper Moedt mustered just two points, but he hauled down a team-best 13 rebounds.
“We are a more balanced team than we have been in recent years,” Friesen noted, “and hopefully that makes us tougher to guard.”
“They were better than us,” WolfPack head coach Scott Clark said. “They made their shots and they were better than us.”
– with files from TRU Athletics
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