Men's Friday Night Rewind

Friday night men’s basketball took one step closer to the end of the season with three games that entertained the hometown crowds.

Capilano Blues 86 OT
Langara Falcons 85

This was the most exciting game of the night, needing an extra session as the visiting Blues clinched the third seed in the Conference with an overtime victory.

Down by three-points with 19 seconds left Aaron Ungprasert nailed a shot from downtown to tie the game for the Falcons and push it into overtime.

In the extra session the scoring went back and forth with the eventual game winning basket coming on a tough, deep baseline shot by Kash Lang with 1:21 remaining.  The Falcons pulled to within one with 44 seconds to go but it’s as close as they would come as they missed an open shot with time winding down.  What a game!

The Blues shot 44% with all five starters hitting the double-digit plateau.  Zach Klim finished with a team high 21 points and 12 rebounds and Lang added 19 points.  They didn’t get much production from their bench with only 14 of their 86 points.

Heading into the fourth quarter, the Falcons had an eight-point lead but allowed the Blues to get back into the game, getting outscored 25-17.  As a team they shot 36% with Ungprasert knocking down a game high 22 points including the game tying shot late in the fourth quarter.   Edrielle Asirit added 19 in the setback.

On Saturday night, the Blues (15-8) will host the Falcons (12-11) in the final game of the regular season at 7:00pm. 

Camosun Chargers 89
CBC Bearcats 69

The hometown Chargers dominated the Bearcats on Friday night, setting the tone early outscoring them 30-19 in the first quarter and move to within one win of clinching first place.

Offensively the Chargers shot 36% and knocked down 13-three pointers.  On “Seniors Night,” graduating player Cormick Brown was outstanding, connecting on eight-three pointers, finishing with a game high 29 points and surpassed 1000 for his career.  David Finch, who is also graduating, chipped in with 16 points in the victory.

The Bearcats had to work for their 69 points against a very good Chargers’ defence.  They shot 39% but missed opportunities from the free-throw line at only 54%. Daylen Webb tallied a team high 20 points and Dane-Dre Anglin added 16.

With the win the Chargers (18-5) take another step towards the #1 seed while the Bearcats (7-16) will finish sixth in the standings and will meet the Capilano Blues in a playoff quarterfinal in a couple of weeks.    Before that happens, they will visit the Chargers again on Saturday afternoon at 3:00pm.

VIU Mariners 91
Douglas Royals 44

Less than 24 hours after head coach Matt Kuzminski and his staff announced they were stepping down following this season, the Mariners cruised to a lopsided win to keep pace with the Camosun Chargers in the battle for first place.

The Mariners shot 44% with scoring up and down the lineup led by Kye Kotapski-Tinga and his game high 21 points off the bench. Speaking of the bench, they would account for 56 of their 91 points.

In the second quarter the Royals were outscored 17-7 and didn’t have much pushback after that, having already been eliminated from postseason contention.   They shot 28% with Lorenzo Bonamin dropping in a team high 14 points.

On Saturday afternoon the Mariners (18-5) and Royals (3-20) play their final regular season game at 3:00pm.