The B-Side

#3 Capilano Blues vs #6 CBC Bearcats – Thursday March 5, 3:00pm | WATCH HERE

The men’s side of the playoff bracket opens on Thursday afternoon when the third seeded Blues face the sixth seeded Bearcats in a quarterfinal.

On paper this is a giant mismatch as the defending champion Blues finished 18-points ahead of the Bearcats in the regular season standings…throw that out the window because this is a sudden death playoff quarterfinal with no tomorrow for the losing team. 

They met four times during the regular season with the Blues winning all four by an average of 13.5 points.  The smallest margin of victory was just four points, while the largest was 31, both took place in their last weekend doubleheader at CBC over the Valentine’s Day weekend.   Forward Zach Klim went off for the Blues in that 31-point win, dropping an eye-popping 40 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.  It will be interesting to see if the Blues utilize Klim in the same way during this quarterfinal or if the Bearcats can slow him down.

Coming into the playoffs, the Blues have been hot, winning all six games in the month of February including two at CBC and will try and carry that momentum into the postseason.  Overall, this year they are averaging 86.3 points per game, second most in the Conference and shooting 45%.  Veteran guard Kash Lang led his team during the campaign averaging 19 points a contest as he enters his final PACWEST postseason.  They have four players averaging over 10 points a game showing off their balanced attack.

The biggest question in this game will be, can the Bearcats defence slow down the Blues?  Defensively they allowed over 93 points each game, a Conference high and have been vulnerable in the paint without a true “big man.”  On the other side, they are solid offensively and will no doubt try and push the pace wanting to score quick, transition buckets.   Dane-Dre Anglin won the PACWEST scoring title averaging over 21 points a game and teammate D’Andre Palmer-Ormsby added 19.9 to create a dynamic 1-2 punch.  For the Bearcats to score the upset, these two will need to be on point on Thursday afternoon.   

They come into the postseason with seven straight losses and finished without a win in February.

These two schools last met in the playoffs in 2024 in a quarterfinal in which the Blues won 76-64 with Lang leading his club with 19 points.  There are four Blues players on this year’s roster that were part of that win, while the Bearcats don’t have any.

The winner on Thursday advances to the semifinal round and will meet the #2 VIU Mariners on Friday at 3:00pm.