Clippers Cruise to Victory Over Wolves

By Jeff Misener

In their last tilt prior to postseason action in the ACAC, the white-hot Briercrest Clippers (13-7) entertained the Northwest Polytechnic Wolves (10-9) in men's basketball action. The home team extended their winning streak to eight with a convincing 87-70 triumph.

Off an inbounds play, Clippers' Brolin Simes opened the scoring beyond the arc, while teammate Jude Shepherd-Hills collected a pair of steals which he converted to points. Wolves' Daniel Zandbergen hit his first two shots. Clippers' Oroma Bongomin and Wolves' big man Manny Iloka exchanged short jumpers before Briercrest forward Asher Elstad nailed a three. A three from Bongomin at the buzzer would serve as a blueprint of things to come.

Briercrest had a blazing start to the second quarter, getting contributions from Shepherd-Hills, Zach Martens and Carter Waind. Iloka secured a double-double before halftime, doing the heavy lifting on the boards, and scoring close to the rim, but the Clippers were full value for their lead going to intermission. 

Zandbergen and Shepherd-Hills knocked down their early looks to start the third and some sharp passing led to another three from Bongomin. The Clippers used a swarming defense to make life miserable for the Wolves, regularly limiting them to single shots. Unselfish play from Clippers' guard Riley Seaborn allowed Shepherd-Hills and Francis Dogani to knock down long range bombs. 

The Wolves opened the final quarter with resolve as Brandon Gillis made a couple of triples and Iloka gathered up a missed shot and delivered a resounding dunk. Teammate Kaden Gravengard got into the action, but Bongomin and Shepherd-Hills took over, hitting from all over the court. Out of a timeout, Iloka mashed an alley oop, but the outcome was already in the books.

Player of the Game for the NWP was Brandon Gillis, who came off the bench to deliver 15 points and two assists. Teammate Manny Iloka poured in 18 points to go with 19 boards, while Daniel Zandbergen added 12 points. The POG honour for Briercrest went to Brolin Simes, who played his final regular season game after five stellar seasons. Oroma Bongomin and Jude Shepherd-Hills paced the Clippers with 28 apiece, Francis Dogani had nine dimes, and Asher Elstad had six points and eight boards.