By: Jenessa Gladstone
Box Score
Burnaby, BC – Playing their final game on home court, the Simon Fraser University men's basketball team fell against the Northwest Nazarene Crusaders, 98-90 on Saturday night.
"Our program has seen a lot of growth. Being with Simon Fraser has been a great experience, and it's been awesome seeing the school continue to grow and succeed in every sport," said Ibrahim Appiah (Montreal, QC), who was one of five graduating seniors. "I have loved every minute of it."
Appiah earned 11 points in his final game in the West Gym. Fellow seniors also hit helped the Clan out as Taylor Dunn (Vancouver, WA) added 14 points, David Gebru (Seattle, WA) scored 12, Dillon Hamilton (Vancouver, BC) earned 10 and Chris Evans (Port Moody, BC) chipped in six.
Sango Niang (Paris, France) led the Clan, earning his second consecutive double-double with 27 points and 10 assists. Justin Cole (Los Angeles, CA) earned double-digits in scoring, adding 10.
Crusader forward Kevin Rima led NNU with 31 points while Mario Donaldson earned 25.
Rebounding troubled SFU as the Crusaders earned grabbed 34 to the Clan's 28.
SFU capitalized from bench, earning 37 points from bench players.
The Clan led early on in the first half, holding a 7-6 edge with 15:34 remaining.
The Crusaders capitalized though moments later, going on a 5-0 run to earn their first lead of the game, 9-7.
NNU continued to expand the deficit, edging out the SFU by as much as 33-23 as 6:22 sat on the clock in the opening 20 minutes.
With 4:09 to go in the first half, the home team used an 8-0 run to quickly cut the visitors' lead to two, 33-31.
Despite the run, the Clan could not gain the edge and allowed the Crusaders to take a 44-39 lead into the locker rooms.
Just over four minutes into the second half, a converted layup from Gebru brought SFU back within one shot of NNU, bringing the score to 52-49.
However, the Crusaders answered with a converted three-point shot to expand their lead back to six, 55-49 with 15:09 remaining.
The Clan continued to contend with the visiting team down to the final seconds.
With 0:45 on the clock, Evans converted a shot from beyond-the-arc to bring SFU within five, 95-90.
But, the late comeback was not enough to overcome NNU's lead.
With the loss, the team's record drops to 3-13 in the GNAC, 10-14 overall.
SFU will look to their final road trip for a couple more victories where SFU will first face the Western Oregon University Wolves at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 26 in Monmouth, Oregon.
