EDMONTON – Fifth-year guard Joel Friesen torched the No.8 ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies for 27 points to lead his Alberta Golden Bears to a 77-63 win on Saturday night at the Saville Community Sports Centre.

The win sends Alberta, the defending Canada West champions, to a 1-1 record, while the Saskatchewan Huskies fall to 1-1. The Bears lost their season opener on Friday, falling 72-60 to Saskatchewan.

Outside of Friesen's 27, the Bears also got 18 from sophomore Mamadou Gueye, 14 from Youssef Ouarhig and 10 from Kenny Otieno.

Saskatchewan was led by Evan Ostertag's 15 points, while both Dadrian Collins and Ben Baker added 10 points each.

Alberta picked up 39 rebounds in the contest, 10 more than Saskatchewan, and they shot the lights out from three-point range, especially in the second half as they ballooned a slim half-time lead en route to the win. The Bears connected on just one of six three-point attempts in the first half, but by game's end, they had sunk seven of 22, to finish with a 32% success rate. Friesen definitely had the hot hand, as he dealt out consecutive treys in the fourth quarter to stake Alberta to the lead, and finished with four on the night. The Huskies, conversely, managed just three from beyond the arc, including just one in the second half.

The first quarter, however, was all Saskatchewan as they blitzed their hosts early, en route to a 19-14 first quarter lead. Alberta fought back in the second, outscoring the Huskies by seven, to make it a 32-30 game in favour of Alberta.

Each team scored 19 points in the third quarter, which kept the Bears in front, 51-49, heading into the final 10 minutes.

And those final 10 minutes belonged to Joel Friesen. The former Canada West all-star drained a trio of three-pointers in the fourth quarter to spark the Bears onto victory. His first of those three came from the top of the arc, with 4:50 left, and it pushed the Bears to a 61-53 lead. His last two were insurance buckets as the Bears rolled on his momentum to a 77-63 final.

The Golden Bears return to action next weekend when they travel to Langley, B.C. to take on the Trinity Western Spartans, while the Huskies head into the "bye" week next weekend.