After a close game for Briercrest yesterday, another close game was set to happen this afternoon which left all spectators on edge as the team battled right until the very last second-this is not a figure of speech in any way. St. Mary’s Lightning took the win this time with a final score of 102-95.
Briercrest came into the game with high intensity and high motivation to win the game. Brandon Friesen took the ball down to finish the lay-up and draw a foul, resulting in an and-one for him. They were able to create good, quick ball movement on the offensive end that showed they were playing well together. Julian Apakoh and Ryan Penner both made three-pointers in the first. The score at the end of the first was 31-22 for the visitors.

Both teams demonstrated aggressive defense which made for numerous foul calls on both ends. Guarding #6 for St. Mary’s was definitely a difficult task, but Briercrest did a god job at doing so regardless. Again Apakoh and Penner both had threes again this quarter. Josh Tippe made a block, which complimented the Briercrest strong defense. The guest team ended the first half with a lead of 53-47.

When the third quarter began Briercrest were playing a strong defense that made it a struggle for St. Mary’s to drive the ball to the hoop. Friesen had a strong rebounding quarter, often rebounding for himself, if necessary. Briercrest maintained the ball movement which resulted in wide-open threes by Tippe, Brendan Adrian and Jared Wicks. The score at the end of the third, still in favour of the Lightning was 75-67.

With the Lightning holding the lead Briercrest really began to force the ball down to the net, Penner did this and made his basket, followed by successfully making his foul shot. The game quickly became very back and forth with both teams making deep three-point shots, a subconscious battle as to who could take the farthest shot.

The Player of the Game for the St. Mary’s Lightning was Bradley Hassall and for Briercrest was Ryan Penner who had 2 steals, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 18 points in the game. Brandon Friesen had a game high 40 points and 18 rebounds to go with an assist and a block, Julian Apakoh had 18 points, 3 assists, 3 steals and 7 rebounds and  and Josh Klassen had 7 rebounds.

After a weekend of no basketball, the next game for Briercrest will be against Lethbridge College on February 20^th at 8:00PM here in Caronport, Saskatchewan.

If you can’t make it out to the game, go to acac.tv to watch online.

 

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