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Halifax bound! Huskies off to nationals
Saskatchewan defeats Regina in third place game at Canada West Final Four
Vancouver, BC - A strong surge late in the game lifted the fourth-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies to a 77-69 victory over the second-seeded Regina Cougars and on to the CIS Final 10 Championship in the third place game at the Canada West Final Four Saturday at War Memorial Gym.
Saskatchewan (22-16) will join UBC (33-4) and conference champion Victoria (28-11) as the three Canada West representatives March 16-19 in Halifax. The berth into the CIS championship marks the first for Saskatchewan since the 1987-88.
After trailing 61-52 with just under eight minutes to play in the final frame, the No.9-ranked Huskies began to chip away at No.8-ranked Cougars lead, outscoring their opponents 25-8 to close out the contest. Rob Lovelace started the streak with a couple of hits from the charity stripe before Sam Lamontagne nailed a three-point dagger to even the count at 65-65 with 3:09 to play. On the ensuing drive, Lovelace weaved his way into the lane and put the Huskies ahead for good on a crafty hoop-and-harm play. The Cougars were forced to foul as the clock wound down, while the Huskies made good on 9-of-10 free throw attempts in the final minute-and-a-half to secure the victory.
"It’s a credit to us to play like that -- with that kind of energy -- down the stretch after we had a real hard game last night and a short turnaround today," said Saskatchewan head coach Greg Jockims, whose charges were tied 33-33 with their opponents at the half. "It was a hard game last night and our guys we’re tired tonight. We put everything on the floor emotionally last night. It was a gut check tonight."
Lovelace paced the Saskatchewan attack with 20 points and four assists, while Lamontagne chipped in 13 points (hitting five of six free throws in the final 28 seconds) and Andrew Spagrud added a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Rejean Chabot scored 10 points, eight of which came in the first half to help keep the Huskies within striking distance.
Spagrud, a first team all-conference selection who exploded for 28 points in Friday night's 73-72 loss to the top-seeded Thunderbirds, failed to score in the first half, but started off the second half with an alley-oop dunk from Lamontagne to help spark the Huskies. "I thought he really stepped up in the second half," said Jockims.
Bryden Wright dropped a game-high 22 points for the Cougars, who dropped a 65-48 decision in the other semifinal yesterday afternoon, while Drew Kuzminski tallied 18 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out late in the final frame. Joel Hunter had 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting, including a dismal 1-of-9 from beyond the arc. The Cougars shot poorly from three-point land all night long, hitting only 3-of-18 attempts (17 per cent).
The schedule and draw for Halifax will be released on Sunday, March 12.
With files from Andrew Wallace, UBC Ast. SID.
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