By Jeremy Siggelkow

Briercrest won the tip off of their final game of the first semester, as an electric shock of cheers surged through the crowd. St. Mary’s fired back strong and immediately both teams returned to their sides of the court to re-strategize as the scoreboard read, 6-2 for St. Mary. Briercrest returned with pure determination and strong vision looking to defeat St. Mary’s, as Ben Kornelsen powerfully dunked the ball in the net. Directly following, a star lay up right down the middle of the court executed by Ethan Da Silva wowed the crowd yet again. From the start, it was clear the Briercrest men’s team meant business, as Ethan followed up authoritatively sinking another center lay up right in St. Mary’s net successfully rebalancing the scoreboard 12-12. Nearing the end of the 1^st quarter, Briercrest stole the lead at 18-16. Guard Daniel Reynolds sunk a confident 3-pointer and Briercrest ended the 1^st quarter with authority as the scoreboard read 30-29.
The 2^nd quarter began with equal intensity as the players returned to the court. The speed of the game was quick, the crowd waited on the edge of their seats – yet the scoreboard still read 30-29. After the 2^nd quarter was underway, Zak Tamlin showed the audience his impressive skills, driving the ball into the center of St. Mary’s court. Briercrest’s opponents pushed back with fury, but Tamlin responded powerfully with exceptional defense. Later on, Daniel Reynolds surfaced as a proponent of Briercrest confidently sinking two foul shots advancing the scoreboard to 34-29 for Briercrest. St. Mary’s continued to push back in fear but Zak Tamlin, who appeared hungry for a win, silenced their attempts wowing the crowd as he dribbled the ball in-and-out of his legs. Concluding the 2^nd quarter Brandon Tolentino had a great run, Zak Tamlin continued to rise to star-status sinking a beautiful three point-shot, Da Silva demonstrated exceptional ball control, and Ben Kornelsen scored the last basket of the 1^st quarter, leaving the score, 67-38 for Briercrest.
As the 3^rd quarter started off with another bang, Brandon Tolentino, sunk an impressive 3-pointer directly followed by an impressive lay up driven in from the outside of the court. This brought the scoreboard up to 77-49 for Briercrest. St. Mary’s, in an attempt to respond, fired back, but Ethan Da Silva responded louder, confidently executing another text book play. As the 3^rd quarter continued, St. Mary’s tried to defend the constant attacks of Briercrest’s calvary, but were unsuccessful, and they fell behind.  Later on, Zak Tamlin put away another 3-pointer, Kyle Helsloot sunk a nice basket, Thomas Neustaedter made his foul shot, and Joshua Mohammed got a rebound of the second foul shot made by Neustaedter. He finished the basket and advanced Briercrest scoreboard to 105-67.
As the 4^th quarter bell chimes in a new quarter, St. Mary’s players began to drop one-by-one slowly falling a victim to the spell of Briercrest’s powerful tactics. Joshua Mohammed sunk two foul shots, and a time-out was called by Briercrest with the score sitting at 113-74. As time went on St. Mary’s began to catch up, putting into question whether Briercrest efforts were enough to win this game. As St. Mary’s continued to catch up, Kyle Helsloot was fouled. He sunk both his foul shots, bringing the score up to 115-81. St. Mary’s continues to fight hard and exponentially increases their performance in this quarter, but is it enough? Helsloot responded with a loud resounding, “no” with only seconds left on the clock, slamming down the most energetic and biggest slam dunk of the season communicating to St. Mary’s that this is their home town and it’s their victory. Briercrest claimed the game, taking victory with the final score of 117-83.
Brandon Tolentino was the Briercrest Player of the Game with five rebounds, six assists and 26 points.

For up to date information on the Briercrest Men’s Basketball team and Briercrest Athletics, “like” us on Facebook or at gobriercrest.ca. To watch games online go to acactv.ca