Kamloops, BC – The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack have fallen to .500 in the Canada West men’s basketball league.
The WolfPack are now 3-3 in the Explorer Division after being swept by the visiting University of Fraser Valley Cascades. The score at the Tournament Capital Centre on Saturday (November 22) was 75-68.
The Cascades are unbeaten in six starts to sit atop of the division.
“It was very close,” said Cascades coach Adam Friesen. “We were just fortunate to make some extra plays down the stretch. Otherwise it would have been a different result.”
“We weren’t the greatest on the defensive glass and we need to be better,” WolfPack head coach Scott Clark stated. “On your own glass, you can’t give them two or three chances at it. It is going to hurt you. Our level of defensive execution has to be better. Offensively, we got a bit panicky and it resulted in high risk behavior.”
Clark admits his team’s defensive play has been their Achilles heel thus far. “Just our defensive toughness. Sometimes it’s our rebounding, sometimes it’s our transition. When you are talking about toughness it is just about you doing your job every single time. They were aggressive down the stretch and we failed to do a good enough job at the defensive end.”
Friesen said his team found their offense didn’t come quite as easy on this night in comparison to their 10 point victory (83-73 on Friday, November 21). “We got the looks we wanted but some nights the ball doesn’t fall. We had to really dig down and be tough on the defensive rebound. Our toughness and discipline weren’t great but they were good enough to find a way to win down the stretch.”
The Cascades led 23-18 at the quarter and were up 35-33 at the half.
Fraser Valley had four players in double figures led by Kevon Parchment for the second straight night with 17.
Nate Brown and Kadeem Willis each had 12 points while Jasper Moedt added 10 and 12 rebounds. Brown also had 11 boards.
TRU was led again by Josh Wolfram (fourth year, forward, Kamloops, BC). He had his sixth straight double-double. This time it was 24 points and 16 boards.
Brett Rouault (fifth year, guard, Vernon, BC) had 14 points and was named the TRU Bookstore/McDonalds “Leader of the Pack” player of the game.
Victor Aguero (third year, guard, Vancouver, WA) had 10 points.
Clark said despite being swept, the season is far from over. “It is early in the season. The league title isn’t won or lost in the first half of the year. We have to play good basketball. There are a lot of games left. Our job is to continue to prepare and get a better.”
The WolfPack will hit the road for their final two games before the Christmas break next weekend (November 28-29) when they visit Calgary and the Mount Royal University Cougars. Fraser Valley will close things out at home against the MacEwan University Griffins.