Briercrest hosted their first PAC basketball tournament since departing from PAC to the ACAC in 1996-97, hosting Great Plains Regional College, Saskatchewan Polytechnic Moose Jaw and Saskatchewan Polytechnic Saskatoon.

Briercrest men open tournament with 81-74 loss to Moose Jaw.

Head coach Andrew Quiring spoke about the game after.

“The Briercrest boys came out and played a hard game, moving the ball and working well as a team,” he explained. “Jesse Rask went off from beyond the arc, as we tried to take one from Panthers, but Moose Jaw kept it close and closed the game in the last couple minutes scoring some big buckets and crashing the boards aggressively.”

Briercrest women followed that up with a 63-35 loss to Saskatoon as they fell behind early and couldn't make a comeback.

Briercrest men opened up Saturday with an 83-76 victory over the then undefeated Saskatoon. They were behind 66-58 after the third quarter before going on a 20-2 run to open up a 78-68 lead before Saskatoon pushed back and made it a close game.

Coach Quiring was proud of how his team played Saturday morning.

“The guys came out to play and compete Saturday morning,” he said. “Saskatoon came into the weekend undefeated and Briercrest came in willing to do what it takes to win the game.  Jesse Rask nailed 3 huge threes at the end of the first giving us a two point edge and keeping us in a competitive game. Despite being down by eight going into the fourth quarter the team remained calm and united, the guys knew they had to make a run and they did, starting the fourth off with a 20-2 run and eventually pulling away with the win. Alex Linnell lead the team with 26 points, Jesse Rask hit some key shots and ended with 12.”

The women played their second game of the weekend against Saskatoon Saturday afternoon and after falling behind early they came back to bring the score to 34-33 for Saskatoon after three quarters before falling 51-38.

Women’s head coach Jackie Senneker spoke about the games against Saskatoon.

“Our game on Friday night against Saskatoon was a tough one,” she explained. “The girls came out and worked hard but struggled with finishing their layups and putting in their shots. We also had a tough time breaking the press and remaining composed. The next day we came out prepared and ready to play. They executed their press break very well and made a lot of great choices. Our defense was a lot stronger on Saturday and the girls worked hard crashing the boards. The game was very close all the way through but ultimately fatigue played the biggest role in the end. Due to injury and illness we started the game with 8 players but by the 4^th quarter we were down to 7 able bodies. The girls had a great game and it was so encouraging to see the progress that occurred during the weekend. Taylor Mitchell was our top scorer for the weekend with a total of 21 points and Morgan Patsack followed up with 16 points.

The Briercrest men finished the weekend with a 72-62 win over Great Plains. They were able to get the lead early on in the first quarter and didn’t look back from there.

“Coming into our last game of this weekend’s tournament, the team harnessed what little remaining energy they had and used it to edge out Great Plains by 10,” coach Quiring explained. “The guys never let their fatigue get to them, never gave up on themselves as we gained a lead in the first quarter and maintained it for 40 minutes. Jonny Toews played a great game, he took the ball hard to the hoop and shot well, scoring 21.  James Miller led solid rebounding effort while scoring 14 inside.

The men's teams for Saskatoon and Great Plains College ended Friday's games with a 75-48 victory for the undefeated Saskatoon. Great Plains started the game strong, but could not hold back the high octane Saskatoon.

Moose Jaw and Great Plains played Saturday morning with Moose Jaw holding off a late 30 point surge by Great Plains to win 91-80.

Saskatoon and Moose Jaw men faced off in their final games of the tournament and played a tightly contested game, but Moose Jaw fell behind in the fourth and their comeback fell short with Saskatoon winning 84-78.

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