Burnaby, BC - After a slow start the Simon Fraser University men's basketball team gave the Western Oregon Wolves all they could handle on Saturday night in the West Gym but the visitors were able to hold off the Clan for the 87-83 victory.
"Thursday we took some steps back so we cleaned some stuff up in practice," said Head Coach
James Blake. "We've got some guys that are still off the tracks a little bit so we've gotta get them back into the team concept. When we play unselfishly and move the ball we're tough to beat. We showed that earlier in the season when we beat Fresno and NDNU so we need to get back to that."
Taylor Dunn (Vancouver, WA) led the Clan with 25 points, going 10 for 16 in the game.
He was one of three Clan players to hit double digits as
Justin Cole (Los Angeles, CA) scored 20 and
Darius Page (Seattle, WA) had 10, including going four for four from the charity stripe.
"We tried to defend early in the game but they jumped out to a big lead in the first half," said Cole. "We can't keep doing that if we are going to win in this conference. Everyone is skilled and everyone can play here. We have to defend right from the start to be successful. There's a lot of talent on our team and we have good chemistry but we need to defend right from the start of games. Everyone can score but it's really about defending."
Page also led the team in rebounds with seven followed by
Ibrahim Appiah (Montreal, QC) who grabbed six.
Matt Staudacher (Vancouver, WA) led the team in assists with seven.
Page also had three steals in the game.
Simon Fraser shot 50 percent from beyond the arc in the game, compared to 27 percent by Western Oregon.
Overall, the Clan shot 56 percent on the night while Western Oregon shot 54.SFU was outrebounded 33-26 while the Clan bench outscored the visitors by two at 35-33.
Points off turnovers was even at 19.
The Clan struggled in the early going, falling behind 19-4 to start the game before the home side slowly climbed back into it, closing the deficit.
With 4:08 remaining in the opening 20 minutes, the score was tied for the first time in the game as Cole converted on a layup to tie things at 36.
He then hit a three pointer to give SFU their first lead of the night at 39-36 but over the final three minutes of the half, the Wolves outscored the Clan 10-4 to send the home side to the locker rooms trailing by three, 46-43.
Cole led the Clan comeback scoring 15 of his points in the first half, helped by Dunn who had 11 first half points, nine of which came via the three ball.
With 14:57 to play in the game the Clan tied the game at 52 with a three ball from Staudacher, then took the lead with a three from Cole to make it 55-54 and after falling behind again, tied it once more at 77 with 2:31 to play.
The Wolves were able to fend off the Clan though, taking the 87-83 victory.
"We're deep and we have a lot of confidence in our bench. We played everyone tonight who was able to play. That's how this league works. On Thursday night you probably play eight or nine guys but on the second night you need everyone because it's a long game so those fresh bodies are key. Our bench did a great job tonight to give us a lift but we need to stop getting off to slow starts because we're using a lot of energy playing catch up," finished Blake.
With the loss, the Clan's record drops to 6-3 on the season, 0-2 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.
With exams coming up, the Clan schedule will lighten up with just one game remaining before the Christmas break as the Clan host the Capilano University Blues in non-conference play in the West Gym on Thursday, December 19 at 7:00 p.m.
