By Larry Read

TRU Sports Information Officer

KAMLOOPS, BC--- In their highest offensive output of the Canada West season, the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men's basketball team got back in the win column.  The WolfPack opened the final weekend of the 2017-18 Canada West regular season with a 104-81 victory.  The Pack beat the Brandon University Bobcats Friday night (Feb 2) on the Warner Rentals court.

The victory pushed the WolfPack to 11-8 on the season which clinched a playoff spot for TRU.  In the RPI rankings, TRU is in 12^th spots at 0.4794. That is one spot behind the Bobcats at 0.4828. 

The WolfPack were led by Derek Rhodes (4^th year, forward, Antioch, CA) who had 25 points. He was one of five TRU players in double figures. Mike Rouault (3^rd year, guard, Vernon, BC) had 21 points.

Brandon was led by Johnathan Range (3^rd year guard, Harlem, NY) with 25 points.  Tyvon Cooper (4^th year, guard, Middletown, NY) added 20.

 SYNOPSIS

The WolfPack came out with 'guns a blazin' as they built up a big lead (15-5 early) and  were up 9 (21-12) after the first quarter.  Thompson Rivers failed to turn over the ball in that first 10 minutes getting seven points out ofm Rhodes. Rouault and Joe Davis (3^rd year, forward, Kamloops, BC) added five points. Cooper paced the Bobcats with four.

In the second quarter, TRU's three point shooting came alive as they were 6-12 led by Rhodes who was 3 for 4 and Luke Morris (5^th year, forward, Mission, BC) who was 3 for 5.   Rhodes paced TRU with 15 first half points. Morris had 11 at the break while Rouault added 10.

Brandon's top gunner at the half was Cooper who had 14 points in the second stanza to give him 16 at that point.

The third quarter saw TRU and Brandon try to outscore each other with the Pack getting 29 that period compared to Brandon's 28.  Thompson Rivers turned the ball over three times compared to Brandon's four. Morris had four rebounds for TRU in the third. Range had 12 points for Brandon in the third quarter giving him 19 on the night.

The fourth quarter was much the same with TRU taking a commanding lead.  Coach Scott Clark utilized his entire bench as in the final three minutes he put in rookies Jon Steele (Chilliwack BC), Devin Halcrow (Kamloops, BC), Dean Lamphers  (Kamloops BC)  along with sophomore Madhu McConnell (Victoria, BC).

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:

(click here)

KEY STATS:

Thompson Rivers :

Derek Rhodes:25 points, 2 defensive rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals: 31 mins

Michael Rouault: 21 points, 5 rebounds (3 def), 1 assist, 1 steal: 30 mins

Joe Davis: 19 points, 1 def rebound, 1 assist, 1 block: 20 mins

Luke Morris: 16 points, 14 rebounds (10 def), 4 assists: 33 mins

Anton Bilous: 10 points, 3 def rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks: 31 mins

BRANDON:

Tyvon Cooper: 20 points, 5 rebounds (4 def), 5 assists: 33 min

Jonathon Range:25 points, 7 rebounds (5 def), 1 block: 32 mins

Janeel Webb: 11 points, 5 rebounds (3 offense): 26 mins

Troy Grant: 5 points, 2 defensive rebounds, 3 assists: 20 mins

 Turnovers:

BRANDON:    14            TRU: 8

Score by Periods:

TRU              21   29   29   25  --104

BRANDON:  12   22   28   19  -- 81

RECORD:

TRU:    11-8          BRANDON:  8-11

QUOTES:

TRU Head Coach Scott Clark:

On the teams determination: " I thought we had some energy and life to us. At times we did some smart things. At other times, not so smart. You have to play hard but you also have to play smart. We will have to be better tomorrow for sure.

On Execution:  At times I thought we executed well, at other times we didn't. It's like baseball. You are just trying to get base hits. Probably we got a lot of base hits and it resulted in a lot of runs. We probably did our jobs more occasions than we didn't. We need to be tougher mentally. I thought there was a stretch there where we lost focus and we didn't do what we were supposed to do. Winning is not some mythical thing.  It is doing your job hard repeatedly regardless of what the outcome is."

Video of post game interview:  click here

Brandon head coach Gil Cheung (8^th season):

Video of post game interview:  click here

UP NEXT:

The  WolfPack  and Bobcats will close out the 2017-18 Canada West regular season tomorrow (Sat Feb 3) on the Warner Rentals court at the Tournament Capital Centre..  Tip off will be 7 pm. Before the game, the WolfPack will honor their lone fifth year player, Luke Morris of Mission, BC.