Burnaby, BC – Eight Clan men hit double-digits in scoring Tuesday night as the Simon Fraser University men's basketball team closed the calendar year with a 53-point victory over Capilano University in non-conference action.

The Clan bench scored a season high 98-points in the 161-108 victory over the Blues, led by freshmen Mathijs van der Mars who had a team-high 20 points on the night, and Denver Sparks-Guest, who recorded his first collegiate double-double.

Watch the high-scoring action in HD on-demand here on SFU Clan TV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxYw5w6vjs8

It was the first team-leading night for van der Mars, who also had five assists and five rebounds in 17 minutes of play, but he was not the only contributor off the bench for Simon Fraser as Sparks-Guest added 19 points and a team-high 10 rebounds on the night.

JJ Pankratz and Adam Westfall added 17 points apiece off the bench, as did starter Patrick Simon who was seven-for-eight from mid-range.

Roderick Evans-Taylor, Justin Cole and Michael Harper also hit double digits for SFU, while the Blues' Andrew Morris, a former Simon Fraser redshirt, led all players on the night with a monumental double-double of 40 points and 17 rebounds.

The Clan started the game on a slightly low note, trailing the shooting 0-9 from beyond-the-arc to start the game, before senior Daniel Deflorimonte sunk the Clan's go-ahead three-pointer sparking an offence spur.

From there SFU did not look back, closing 2014 on a high-note heading into the holiday break.

"It's going to be tough," head coach James Blake said of the seven-day mandated NCAA training black-out. "But every team is in the same boat and our guys need to do a good job maintaining their fitness and aerobic training in those seven days away from the court. We have three practices together before the Anchorage game, so we will come to play in Alaska."

The Clan is back in action on New Year's Day 2015 when they travel to Alaska to take on the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, before a clash with the Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks two days later.

For holiday basketball action fans can cheer on the Clan women's basketball team this weekend, as they host Cal State – Dominguez Hills in a double-header on December 20^th and 21^st.

Tip-off for both games is at 1:00 p.m. in SFU's West Gym.