By Kara Giesbrecht

The Briercrest Clippers men’s basketball team nipped at Lethbridge’s heels throughout the game, following within range although never gaining the lead. Briercrest dug in the fourth quarter with an exciting comeback, falling just shy of another victory this weekend.  

Briercrest took their time putting points up in the first quarter, allowing eight Lethbridge points before Lucas Mannes sunk two free throws to put them  on the board 2-8. Briercrest’s offense created some good drives up the floor, but Lethbridge defense made it hard to follow through, extending their lead to 20-9 at the end of the quarter.

Briercrest trailed 17-32 midway through the second quarter when Lethbridge called a time out in response to Christian Sacoman’s three. Briercrest trailed 18-37 when another Sacoman three, sandwiched between points by Brandon Friesen, lit up the excitement Briercrest lacked in the first quarter, bringing the score up 27-39. The quarter ended with both teams given scoring opportunity with free throws, breaking for halftime at 28-45.
Although Sacoman opened the third quarter score with a three, it wasn’t push enough for the Clippers to command the score. Lethbridge’s strong offense provided a challenge for Briercrest’s defense leaving the Clippers down 42-61 at a Briercrest time out.  Threes by Ryan Penner and Josiah Cockrill followed, giving Briercrest momentum despite lagging 58-71 at the end of the third.
The last quarter opened like the previous, with Mannes sinking a three in response to Lethbridge’s opening points, 61-73. Briercrest fought hard to narrow the gap when Sacoman snagged a loose ball, scoring off a breakaway, the score now 65-78. Strong Briercrest offense characterized by drives to the basket by Mannes, and points by Friesen were all contributing factors in Briercrest turning up the heat on Lethbridge. Briercrest hot on their tail, Sacoman upped the score to 78-88 closing in on Lethbridge’s lead by ten just before the two minute mark. Foul trouble allowed Lethbridge to go on to win 93-81. 

 

Game notes:
Players of the game were Lethbridge’s Brendan Blood with 15 points and Brandon Friesen for Briercrest who had a game high 26 points.

Lethbridge shot 36-70 field goals (51.4%) and Briercrest shot 30-70 (42.9%). Lethbridge ended with a 17-22 free throw record and Briercrest claimed 12-22. Lethbridge led with 23 assists while Briercrest had 17. Lethbridge allowed 18 turnovers while Briercrest allowed 25. Lethbridge maintained four blocks while Briercrest’s only block belonged to Brandon Friesen. The remainder of the stats were nearly equal between the teams.

Lucas Mannes led with a game high 14 of Briercrest’s 36 rebounds. Ryan Penner and Christian Sacoman each contributed a team high four assists. Sacoman also had a game high five steals.

Briercrest will face The Kings University College at home next Friday, October 25 at 8:00pm in the Margaret P. Reimer Memorial gymnasium and Grande Prairie Regional College Saturday, October 26 also at 8:00pm.

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