The men’s basketball team faced up against the Lethbridge Kodiaks this evening in their second last home game of the season and played a strong game overall but were unable to win the game and had a final score of 91-69. Briercrest’s best quarter was their first and unfortunately a lack of energy left them unable to finish the game as strong as they started.

Briercrest started the game off with strong ball movement and good shots. Josh Klassen drew a foul early on and finished his drive to the net, but not at the foul line. Josh Tippe went up for a lay-up and an aggressive block ended in him shooting for an unsportsmanlike move. Brandon Friesen played a strong defensive quarter and the Kodiaks ended the first with 9 foul calls. The Kodiaks were up 21-19 at the end of the first.

Friesen continued to play a strong and clean defensive game as well as an evenly matched offensive game. Julian Apakoh drove the ball to the net frequently to put up points for Briercrest and keep it a close game. Ryan Penner made his second and third three-pointer before a time-out was called by Lethbridge. The second quarter ended with Lethbridge ahead 38-35.

The second half maintained the same intensity that occurred in the first half. Apakoh, Friesen, Penner, Theo Block and Taran Garchinski covered the first half of the third quarter and played great as a team as they kept the gap close that the Kodiaks previously had. Nearing the end of the third Lethbridge got some momentum that brought them into a lead of 14. The third ended with a score of 65-51 for Lethbridge.

The final quarter was not the most energetic of them all, but the home team persisted and kept it an interesting game, as the aggressive tone did not end. Nathan Archer made a hugely surprising block against the Kodiaks and got the Briercrest team and crowd excited. Shortly after, Penner made another deep three-point shot. 

The Player of the Game for the Lethbridge Kodiaks was Pierce Van Gaalen and for the Briercrest Clippers was Brandon Friesen who had a great game with 1 assist, 1 block, 12 rebounds and 17 points. Our other Briercrest players with high numbers included Ryan Penner with 23 points and 6 rebounds, Julian Apakoh with 10 points, Josh Tippe with 2 assists and 8 points and Taran Garchinski with 5 rebounds.

The next game for the men’s team against Lethbridge again tomorrow at 3:00PM following the women’s game tomorrow in the Briercrest gym. If you can’t make it out to the game, the game will be on the online broadcaster acac.tv. Support Briercrest as they play their final home game tomorrow.

 

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