Michael-Clancey drops 20 against former team as Huskies top Ooks

Sean Michael-Clancey was one of four members of the Keyano Huskies to reach double digits Saturday, draining 20 points against his former team in an 87-80 win over the NAIT Ooks. 

The Ooks gave the Huskies all they could handle in the opening half, opening up a six-point lead. The Huskies fought back with a 28-point third quarter to take a two-point lead and then increased their lead by five in the final quarter. 

"They came out and hit a ton of shots early; all credit to them," said Head Coach Jeremy Wielenga. "I thought we played pretty solid [defence] the first half, they just hit tough shots.

"They hit great shots, got some good players on that side and I thought our guys just had a little bit more energy and we did a better job on the backside of our defence and rotating in the second half to help slow them down a bit."

Ringo Dau dropped 17 points, Omeechi Williams added 13 points off the bench, and Mazin Tiea tallied 11 points to round out the impressive quartet. Jacob Simmons finished a single point shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.

"It seemed like the energy wasn't there at the start of the game," added Ringo Dau, who earned Player of the Game honours for the Huskies. "Once we really locked in and got things flowing as a team I feel like no one can really keep up with us.

"It just took us a minute to get to that level. Once we were there, that's when things started going for us."

Griffin Lorenz led the offence for the visiting Ooks, notching 25 points. Stian Gleddie added 14 and Vishal Dhillon contributed 12 in the narrow loss. 

The Huskies shot 60 per cent (33-of-55) from the field, making good on four of their 18 attempted three-point shots. In their 24 trips to the free throw line, they knocked down 17 of them to gain the upper hand. 

"The good thing about it is, we're making new mistakes," continued Wielenga. "We're progressing as a team; we're not doing the same old things. We're challenging the guys and they're responding."

Shooting 53.8 per cent from the field on 28-of-52 shooting, the Ooks drained 12 of the 31 three-point shots they attempted, including seven in the opening half. With 15 trips to the foul line in the game, the Ooks made 12 of them. 

Both sides will face each other in a rematch tomorrow at the Syncrude Sport and Wellness Centre in Fort McMurray, Alta. at 3:00 p.m.