The final home game for the Briercrest men’s basketball team took place this afternoon against the Lethbridge Kodiaks in an eventful game that resulted in the Kodiaks winning 106-77, but it was certainly a good game to watch as both teams continually fought hard right now to the last possible moment in each possession.

In the first minutes of the quarter it was already a short-fused match up between the refs calls and players. Brandon Friesen put up the first points of the game, as usual, followed by Julian Apakoh. Briercrest fought hard this game, but mostly were unable to finish at the net despite their strength in getting down to the net. The first ended with Lethbridge up 38-14.

Briercrest’s Josh Klassen came into the second quarter playing well with two blocks early on, a steal and overall intensity. Friesen continued to have most of the points in the game for Briercrest and Apakoh had an opportunity to make a dunk, which of course he gladly did. Josh Tippe handled the ball well and maintained steady composure throughout. It ended with Kodiaks holding the lead 62-36.

Apakoh gave a great assist to Klassen who came straight down the centre to go for a quick dropped in lay-up which really showed how well the team came into the second half playing together. Taran Garchinski and Ryan Penner both worked especially hard to drive the ball to the net, with positive results. Lethbridge was up 88-59 going into the final quarter.

Defensively, Briercrest played a strong quarter and Friesen, after a minor injury in the third, continued to drop points in at an incredible rate in his last home game of his career. Theo Block stepped into the game again and got a steal for the team, which was followed by more point for Briercrest and Jared Wicks grabbed many rebounds.

The Player of the Game for the Lethbridge Kodiaks was Peter Danielson and for the Briercrest Clippers was Brandon Friesen with 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 33 points. Julian Apakoh had 15 points and 8 rebounds, Ryan Penner and Josh Klassen both had 4 assists.

Next week on Friday, February 27^th it will be the last of two games of the season for Briercrest as they go on the road to face Red Deer at 8:00PM. If you cannot make it to the game, the link for the online broadcaster is: acac.tv.

A thank you goes out to all of those who came out to cheer for Briercrest this 2014-2015 season. Good luck to the team as they go on to play their last games next weekend!

 

For up to date information on the Briercrest basketball team, “like” the Briercrest Basketball facebook page.