The University of the Fraser Valley men's basketball team unleashed one of its trademark second-half runs to put away the UBC Okanagan Heat on Friday evening.
The Cascades tore off a 22-5 run in the third quarter to turn a modest four-point lead into a comfortable 21-point cushion, and they cruised from there, winning 73-66 at the Envision Athletic Centre.
It was the 27th straight Canada West conference victory for the UFV men dating back to last season, and the Explorer Division leaders improved to 13-0 in 2014-15. The last-place Heat saw their record dip to 2-11.
The two teams clash again on Saturday in Abbotsford (7 p.m., Envision Athletic Centre).
"We have the ability to go on spurts and it just so happens that often, it's in the second half," noted Cascades head coach Adam Friesen, whose team is No. 7 in the CIS national rankings. "We really searched for a high-quality shot every time down and gave ourselves a chance to put together a run."
After building a 17-14 lead in the first quarter, the Cascades stretched the margin as high as 15 points in the second, before the Heat closed to within 39-30 at halftime.
UBC Okanagan opened the third quarter by draining a pair of long jumpers – a trey from Dave Manshreck and a deep two-pointer by Mitch Goodwin – but it was all UFV for the next seven-and-a-half minutes, as they essentially put the game away.
The Cascades' offence dried up in the fourth quarter, as they mustered just 11 points in the frame. But they had enough of a cushion that the outcome was never in doubt.
True to form, UFV's balanced attack saw five different players score in double figures – Jasper Moedt had a huge double-double with 16 points and 17 rebounds, while Kevon Parchment (16 points), Kadeem Willis (14), Dominque Brooks (10) and Manny Dulay (10) also chipped in offensively.
Aldrich Berrios notched a game-high 17 points for UBC-O, while Manshreck scored 16.
Aside from their torrid third quarter performance, the Cascades didn't shoot the ball terribly well – they knocked down just 30.3 per cent of their attempts from the field for the game. But they made up for that with huge volume from the free throw line, getting to the charity stripe for 35 attempts and hitting 24 of them.
"It's a combination of just missing some open shots and making life harder on ourselves on the offensive end than it has to be," Friesen said, analyzing his team's struggles from the field. "We've got to try to put a better 40 minutes together."