Burnaby, BC - The Simon Fraser University Clan men's basketball is struggling to return to the win column after dropping their fourth straight match of 2015, falling 111-104 to Montana State University - Billings Saturday night.
 

Watch the game On Demand in HD here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYeo0dgcMkM
 

Simon Fraser's offence continues to impress, but after a sluggish start to the second half, their comeback attempt fell just short, falling to 6-7 overall and 1-4 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.
 

Playing without injured Roderick Evans-Taylor and Adam Westfall, who average 15.5 and 10.3 points per game respectively, the Clan saw strong performances from Hidde Vos and JJ Pankratz who added 12 and 11 points to SFU's campaign.
 

SFU opened somewhat slowly, but bounced back quickly to take an 18-17 lead, forcing ten turnovers in the first half alone.
 

"I thought in the first four minutes we were a bit sloppy, but once we started playing our game and getting in sync with our style things really came together," said head coach James Blake. "I was happy with the first half and how we moved the ball quickly and got our shots off."
 

Tied 58-58 at the half, momentum seemed to be in the Clan's favour with a supportive home crowd behind them, but a 12-point run for the Yellowjackets put them in a catch-up position for the remainder of the game.
 

Down by 15 points at one time, SFU pulled within six following a Daniel Deflorimonte layup and a pair of Sango Niang free-throws, but the comeback ultimately fell short as the Yellowjackets held on to win by seven.
 

Simon Fraser shot 44 percent from the floor and 26.3 percent from three-point range, but added 20 points off of free-throws shooting 87 percent from the charity stripe.
 

GNAC leading scorer Sango Niang continued to produce, scoring 28 points and adding five rebounds for SFU, while Justin Cole had 21 points and eight rebounds for the home side.
 

"We came out slow in the second half which we also did Thursday night, which can unfortunately become a trend if not addressed," Blake continued. "We need the guys to come hard and prepare better for practices this week as we get set for two important games on the road. That being said, there were some positives tonight including play from our bench, especially Daniel and Hidde, we just need to learn how to share the ball a little bit more moving forward and not rely solely on one or two players.
 

The Clan depart next week for their second road swing of the year where they will take on Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington in hopes of finding their first win of 2015, and bouncing back in preparation for their four-game home stint the two weeks following.
 

Tip off against the Crusaders on Thursday is at 6:00 p.m. PST, while their match with the Wildcats Saturday will begin at 7:00 p.m. PST.