Huskie Pride

News
Schedule/Results
Roster
Statistics
Standings
Photo Gallery
Newsletter
Records
History
Facilities
Recruiting
Contact

Camps & Clinics
Junior Huskies
     Basketball Club

Edmonton, Alberta - The top two teams in the Central Division met twice this weekend in Edmonton for two games that would go a long way to determining who finishes in first place in the division. Coming into the weekend the University of Saskatchewan Huskies were two games behind the rival University of Alberta Golden Bears. After the weekend the standings look exactly the same as they did before.

Friday night Saskatchewan came out with a lot of energy and hustle, coming out on top 90-71. Saturday night it was Alberta that had the hot hand offensively, as they kept their grip on first place with a 83-70 victory.

With four conference games left Saskatchewan (16-16, 11-7 Canada West) has clinched a playoff berth and remains in second place, two games behind Central Division leader Alberta (21-9, 13-5). Saskatchewan is three games up on third place Calgary (14-18, 8-10).

The Huskies will host two top ten teams this weekend in the final home games of the regular season. Friday night the No. 8 Victoria Vikes, the defending conference champions, will be in town. Saturday night is "Senior Night" and guard Sam Lamontagne will be honoured prior to the tip-off with the No. 6 UBC Thunderbirds. Gametime both nights is scheduled for 8:00 pm at the Physical Activity Complex.

Friday: Saskatchewan 90 at Alberta 71

With files from Matt Gutsch, Alberta Sports Info

The University of Alberta Golden Bears basketball team gave up some vital ground against the team that is chasing them for first place in the Central Division. The University of Saskatchewan Huskies picked up a huge win on the Bears' home court, as the Huskies walked away with a 90-71 win Friday night in Edmonton.

With the win Saskatchewan (16-15, 11-6 Canad West) inched closer to the Central top spot. Alberta's (20-9, 12-5) record drops after having won five out of their last six conference games.

The Bears had a golden opportunity Friday night, sweep the weekend series and clinch first place and a first round bye in the playoffs. The two teams split an earlier series in Saskatoon, so a sweep by Alberta this weekend would have locked up the Central Division crown, but the recently No. 10-ranked team let the opportunity slip through their arms like so many Friday night rebounds.

"We got out worked, it's that simple," said Alberta Head Coach Don Horwood. "They (Saskatchewan) kicked us in ever facet of the game, they out hustled us, they were smarter than us, made better decisions with the ball, better defence, better offence and for some reason, they wanted it more than us."

Shutting down Saskatchewan's offence proved to be every bit as difficult as advertised. The Huskies boast Conference leading scorer Andrew Spagrud who is a two-time CIS All-Canadian and the 2003-04 CIS Freshman of the Year. Now in his fourth year, Spagrud is leading the country with a 24.4 points per game average and the 6'8" forward made his mark against the Bears. He picked up the double-double, scoring 20 points and 10 rebounds, both game highs on the night. He had company in scoring as Kyle Grant picked up 18, Rejean Chabot drained 17 and Jordan Harbidge banked 11. All four players are part of Saskatchewan's starting five and were dominant on this night.

The Bears' certainly had their struggles on offence, shooting just 61% from the free-throw line, but it was in rebounding and defence where the Huskies had the most success against them. The Huskies also shot 11-20 from beyond the arc.

"Rebounding is usually a sign of hustle," said Horwood. "Tonight, the fact that the Huskies had a 32-19 edge in rebounds says loud and clear that they crashed to the boards harder than we did and simply out worked us on defence."

Rookie C.G. Morrison was Alberta's top shooter scoring 15 points. Justin VanLoo and Alex Steele put down 14 and 13 points respectively, and the top rebounders for the Bears were VanLoo and Tyson Jones with just three each.

Alberta, who trailed 49-35 at the half, closed to within nine points midway through the second before Saskatchewan came roaring back, opening up a 20 point lead and never really looking back.

Back-to-back three's by Sam Lamontagne gave the Huskies a 71-58 lead with 11:07 to play. The Huskies kept extending the lead, and Chabot's three-pointer with 5:34 gave them an 83-64 advantage.

Hey, it's one game," added Horwood "and while I'm disappointed in the way we lost, it happens in sport and a true test is how you rebound from a disappointment like this."

Saturday: Saskatchewan 70 at Alberta 83

With files from Matt Gutsch, Alberta Sports Info

The University of Alberta Golden Bears basketball team rebounded big time to score an 83-70 win over the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Saturday night in the U of A's Main Gym.

Alberta Head Coach Don Horwood challenged his team to bounce back after losing by 21 points (91-70) on Friday night, where the Huskies beat the Bears in every facet of the game. The Bears rebounding game was absent on in the Friday night loss (32-12 Saskatchewan advantage) but back in full force on Saturday as the home side out-boarded their visitors 28-23, including a 17 to 10 edge in defensive boards.

Also in full-swing tonight for the No. 10-ranked Bears was the long ball game, which nailed an even 50% (5-10) of their shots, all of which came in the first half.

Guards C.G. Morrison and Alex Steele both put down two long balls in the opening 20 minutes, while Neb Aleksic picked the other, helping the Bears to a huge first half where they scored 50 points to Saskatchewan's 33.

Horwood's team turned their first half play into a 56-41 advantage to start the second half before the Huskies began to narrow the gap. Rejean Chabot converted a three-point play with 11:49 to go, cutting the lead to 58-48.

Andrew Spagrud fought hard to bring his Huskies back into the game, hitting foul shots, tough lay-ups inside and turn-around jumpers, shrinking Alberta's lead from 15 points to 10.

A three-point play by Kyle Grant with 4:11 remaining brought the Huskies with eight points, 69-61.

The two teams traded points back and forth for two minutes, always a 10 point Alberta lead, until Steele found Richard Bates for an alley-oop dunk to increase the lead to a dozen with just under a minute to play.

Morrison was the game’s top scorer banking 24 points as he near perfect in shooting, nailing all four free-throw shots, both three-ball attempts and nine of his 10 shots from inside. Scott Gordon poured in 17 points to go along with his seven rebounds, while Steele finished with 16 points and five assists. Bates was team co-leader in rebounds with seven while coming up strong with 14 points, giving Alberta four players with double digit scoring.

Spagrud collected his 18th double-double of the season, leading his team in points (19) and rebounds (14) with Chabot and Grant rounding out the Huskie top scorers with 15 and 13 points respectively.

Alberta shot 59.6% from the floor for the game, while Saskatchewan shot only 46.0%. Alberta outrebounded Saskatchewan 28-23.

With the win the Bears (21-9, 13-5 Canada West) earn another split with Saskatchewan (16-16, 11-7) as the teams won one and lost one against each other earlier this season in Saskatoon. Should the two teams remain tied after the regular season the teams’ record against divisional opponents will decide who claims first place.