BURNABY, B.C. — Terique Brown is the mystery man no more.

And if you are looking for clues as to how and why the Simon Fraser Red Leafs not only won for the first time in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play this season, but did it with their most explosive offensive output of the campaign, you might want to start with the 6-foot-2 redshirt sophomore guard who pulled on his No. 24 jersey for the first time ever as an SFU starter.

Brown, the Georgetown, Ont., native by way of NCAA Div. II Dominican University of California, hit three-point buckets to both open the game and start the second half en route to a 12-point performance as the Red Leafs drubbed the visiting Alaska Nanooks 89-61 in a re-scheduled West Gym matinee played Friday following a weather-related Thursday night postponement.

The victory snapped the Red Leafs' 17-game GNAC losing streak and represented its first home conference win since beating the Western Washington Vikings 78-76 on the final day of the 2021-22 regular season.

"He brings a ton of athleticism and energy," admitted Red Leafs' head coach Steve Hanson of Brown, whom the team elected to redshirt last season, ahead of eligibility issues which pushed his debut to January.

"He was outstanding (coming off the bench) last Saturday (in a 73-61 loss) at Montana St. Billings," continued Hanson, "and we were hopeful that was going to carry that over. He has a lot of offence to bring, he's unselfish and he attacks downhill."

Indeed, there are multiple angles from which to view SFU's dam-breaking offensive efficiency on Saturday, including the fact that it shot a sizzling 50 per cent three-point range and that its 13 treys represented its most long-range makes since their aforementioned win over the Vikings.

Yet the best way to describe it was to say that with Brown added to the mix, there was visible evidence of the kind of inside-outside, quick-hitting play which allowed the Red Leafs to find their shots all over the court and in flow.
 

On the game, seven different SFU players hit triples, six different players had steals, and six more dished at least two assists, all within a box score in which the assist-to-turnover ratio was a productive two-to-one (22-to-11).

The team's three double-figure scorers — sophomore Nigel Hylton (Toronto) with 16, and Brown and sophomore forward Zach Stone (Ottawa) with 12 each — were a combined 14-of-22 (64 per cent) from the field.

Hylton's productivity emerged from a concerted meeting of the minds in practice this week.

"I was not giving him enough leash, and so we had a talk with him this week about giving him more minutes," said Hanson of Hylton, who is still continuing to grow on the defensive end, and who played 17 minutes Friday. "And he is a heck of a shooter, so that is crucial."

And as SFU hit on five straight three-point attempts over the final 5:05 of the first half before Hylton missed in the final seconds to take a 42-34 lead into the break, it was interesting to note that senior starting point guard David Penney (Guelph, Ont.) didn't take a single shot from the field over the first 20 minutes.

He didn't have to.

Instead, Penney orchestrated to the tune of six assists against a single turnover.

"He didn't even take a three today," noted Hanson.

It was a show of efficiency that just got better as the game progressed, to the point where when sophomore post Sasha Vujisic (Burnaby, B.C.) got a put-back off his own offensive rebound with 39 seconds remaining, SFU led by a game-high margin of 30 points at 89-59.

"It means our guards are finding the right guys and we know who our green-light shooters are," the coach added. "And once we hit a few of them, it extends the defence and opens up the inside. It's that constant chess match."

The Red Leafs were about as hot as they could ever hope to be during a 6:37 stretch which began in the final minute of the first half and extended into the second.

Over that span, SFU went on a 23-5 run in which it shot 10-of-12 from the field and 3-of-4 from distance to build a 60-39 lead.

Brown and Stone each scored five over that run, Penney had four and freshman Irish Coquia (Vancouver) three among the seven total players registering points.

Friday's win featured so many great performances, yet there seemed something special developing as Brown found his way in the rotation, joining the formerly injured junior guard Eric Beckett (Ajax, Ont.) who is slowly but surely working his way back.

Abdullahi Mohamed with 13 points, Demarcus Hall-Scriven with 11 and Nick Hopkins with 10 led the Nanooks.

Of course, the challenge will be steep Saturday (7 p.m.) when SFU hosts Alaska Anchorage, yet Hanson was able to start seeing the full identity of his team in Friday's win.

"So you scratch your head going into Christmas with no Beckett and no Terique, and you wonder to yourself how much difference one or two guys can make," Hanson said following Friday's win. "I would say it's huge."

Tickets for Saturday's game can be purchased at: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/sfu-mens-basketball-vs-university-of-alaska-anchorage-tickets-727838814487

For the latest information on SFU Athletics, visit athletics.sfu.ca. You can also find us on social media at @SFU_Athletics.

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