BELLINGHAM, WA---
 
On Saturday night in the Carver Gym at the Chuck Randall Classic, the Simon Fraser University Men's Basketball team prevailed over the Colorado Christian University Cougars by a final score of 89 to 80. 
 
The teams went back and forth in the opening stages of the first half, and halfway through, Colorado Christian found themselves up by a narrow margin at 21-17. The Cougars surged ahead despite Simon Fraser starting the matchup on a 6-0 run, but Simon Fraser would rally in response near the end of the first half. With 2:56 remaining, SFU's Wilfried Balata drove the lane and made a layup which put Simon Fraser back up again at 34-32. The Cougars would only score one more point over the rest of the first, and SFU took a 39 to 33 lead to the half. 
 
Leading the way for SFU in the first half was Wilfried Balata with 16 points. Julian Roche added 8 points and 7 rebounds, with 6 of those rebounds coming on the offensive glass. Simon Fraser struggled shooting the ball in the first half, but made up for their inefficiency with strong rebounding, as well as forcing Colorado Christian turnovers. 
 
Simon Fraser worked hard to pull away from the Cougars early in the second, but timely shooting kept CCU within touching distance as the second half rolled on. With 10 minutes remaining to be played, SFU found themselves with a relatively tight six-point advantage at 67 to 61.  
 
Then, with 5:37 remaining, the Cougars were back within a single point at 72 to 71. However, this was as close as Colorado Christian would come to re-taking the lead, and Simon Fraser's ability to get to the free throw line down the stretch proved vital, as it helped seal a victory for SFU by a final score of 89 to 80
 
With the win, Simon Fraser moves to 5-1 on the season and 2-0 to finish off the Chuck Randall Classic. Leading the way for SFU in scoring was Wilfried Balata with 27 points and 10 rebounds. Julian Roche also had a monster performance, posting a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds. The Cougars were incredibly efficient shooting the ball, making over 58% of their shots throughout the contest, but crucially, they turned the ball over 18 times while Simon Fraser gave it away only 5 times. Simon Fraser also dominated on the offensive glass, out rebounding the Cougars in that department by a measure of 22 to 6. 
 
With the pre-conference schedule complete, Simon Fraser will be preparing for their opening GNAC matchup of the 2019-2020 season on Dec 3^rd at 7:30PM in the West Gym.