The No. 6 ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies advance as host to the Canada West Final Four after an 84-71 win over the Thompson Rivers WolfPack in Game 3 of a best-of-three conference quarter-final Sunday night at the PAC in Saskatoon.
It will be the second time since 2012 the Huskies have hosted the Canada West championship and second in history. The UBC Thunderbirds, Victoria Vikes and Fraser Valley Casades will join the Huskies' at the tournament at the PAC next weekend.
Canada West Second Team All-Star Matthew Forbes led the Huskies with an impressive 30 points in the game. He added seven rebounds. Canada West Third Team All-Star Dadrian Collins recorded 17 points, while Evan Ostertag tallied 10. Two-time Canada West Defensive Player of the Year Ben Baker lived up to his award nabbing 16 rebounds.
Brett Rouault led the WolfPack with 33 points – 19 of those in the first half. Reese Pribilsky scored another 17 for Thompson Rivers, while Tallon Milne led in rebounds with seven.
The series needed a Game 3 after the two teams split the earlier games in the series. Saskatchewan won Game 1 96-82, while the WolfPack took Game 2 81-75.
Much like Game 1 and 2, the Wolf Pack had leads after both the first and second quarters. Thompson Rivers led 27-23 after the first quarter and 43-42 at halftime.
Saskatchewan started to mount the comeback in the dying seconds of the first half.
Down by four with seconds left, Baker swung the ball cross-court to Ostertag. Ostertag hit the net on a three-point shot at the buzzer to pull the Huskies within one.
But Thompson Rivers' Rouault opened the second half with a three of his own to reinstate the four point lead. The teams traded baskets before an Ostertag layup put Saskatchewan back up by one near the end of the third. He hit another three-point shot from the top of the arc to give the Huskies its largest lead of the game at 61-57 to close the third.
Saskatchewan's Andrew Henry opened the fourth quarter with another three point shot to extend the lead. The Huskies began to pull away going on an eight point run to start the fourth frame. Thompson Rivers took a timeout but the run continued for nearly five minutes and 12 points. Thompson Rivers finally found the basket on a Rouault layup but the Huskies' quick start to the quarter was too much for the WolfPack to recover from.
Thompson Rivers shot at 44% in the game, while Saskatchewan shot at 47%.
The Canada West Final Four begins Friday at the PAC. The Victoria Vikes will meet the Fraser Valley Cascades in the first semifinal at 6 p.m., while the Huskies will host the UBC Thunderbirds at 8 p.m. in the other semifinal. The bronze medal match will be Saturday at 6 p.m. Tipoff in the championship game is at 8 p.m.