KELOWNA, B.C. – Out to win the weekend versus the MacEwan Griffins in men's basketball, the UBC Okanagan Heat could not catch their Edmonton foes in the end as they fell 68-64 to net the weekend split. The matchup concludes the Heat's series of home games in 2014 before the December break.
First-year guard Aldrich Berrios (Burnaby, BC) had the hot hand for the home squad as he went for a game-high 19 points and went 5-7 from the three point line including five straight to start. He would capture his team's one brief lead deep in the third top cap off a 12-3 run to keep tight with the Griffins.
The Griffins were out to a hot start to the first, up 17-4 nine minutes into the period before the Heat clamored back on a 8-0 run to trail by a five point margin.
The second quarter was dominated largely by MacEwan's Denzel James, who netted 13 of his 16 points in those ten minutes alone. James would be silenced for the latter half of the game as he wrapped up 4-12 from the field with seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. His team would hold a 39-30 lead into the half after he went coast-to-coast for an easy layup at the buzzer to close out the second quarter.
Berrios made his presence felt in the third quarter the most, opening with the first points of the half with a three-pointer to cut the deficit to six. A high energy play came when he buried a deep three and drew contact to go to the line for a four-point play, ultimately failing to convert but putting the Heat down two. He notched nine points (all threes) in the period.
The Heat vacillated within five points of the Griffins, and the tight contest would be suspenseful down to the final seconds of the ballgame. Down two 66-64 with eight seconds on the clock, Lee Danderfer would miss the second of a pair of free-throws and second-year Heat forward Travis Worthing would secure the rebound. Unfortunately for the Heat, the ball would be turned over and Keith Gerdes would ice a pair of free-throws to stay ahead for good.
Ryan May was a constant problem for the Heat down in the paint as he bullied his way to a team-high 17 points on 6-11 shooting to along with a near-double-double with nine boards. Danderfer and Gerdes rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Griffins with 13 and 11, respectively.
Last night's Heat hero in third-year Mitch Goodwin (Kelowna, BC) was impactful intangibly but for the most part absent from the scoreboard, recording six points and six rebounds. A big spark for the Okanagan team was second-year Cameron Friesen (Abbotsford, BC), who put up 14 points with five rebounds and two assists. David Manshreck tallied nine points, eight rebounds and three assists to round out the team's stat sheet.
The Heat fall to 2-4 while the Griffins move to 3-3 for the season. The Heat hit the road for the final games before the December break at UNBC in Prince George next weekend, while MacEwan hops over the Rockies once again to Fraser Valley. Game times for both matches are at 8 p.m.
Watch the action online and stream live stats at canadawest.tv.