Men's Basketball Huskies outlast Wolves to stay perfect
The Keyano Huskies Men's Basketball team had their hands full with the Grande Prairie Regional College Wolves Saturday afternoon in Fort McMurray, Alta., but prevailed with a 79-74 win to end the first semester 6-0 on the season.
"It was a good game overall, but we definitely need to pick it up as a team," said Keenan Caribou. "We were lazy on defence, but we did clean it up on the second half.
"We've got to do a better job of closing out the games, not letting them come back."
Caribou had 15 points and two rebounds off the bench for the Huskies, earning Player of the Game honours for his side. Emmauel Iloka had 22 points and 10 rebounds to earn the honours for the Wolves.
The Huskies bolted out to a 22-13 lead after the first quarter, but the Wolves responded by cutting the deficit to only three points at the half. A 25-20 third quarter in favour of the home side pushed the Huskies' lead to eight.
The Wolves won the fourth quarter by a three-point margin to bring themselves close, but not close enough by the final whistle.
"We found a way to win in the fourth quarter, which was good," said head coach Jeremy Wielenga. "I thought it was disappointing that we blew a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter.
"All credit to [GPRC], they made shots, they played well and they stopped us and they made it a really close game. Luckily we found a way to win."
Jusci Thompson also came off the bench to tally 11 points and 10 assists for the double double, also adding five steals. Sean Michael-Clancey and Ringo Dau each hit double-digit points once again with 14 and 13, respectively.
Christian Liwanag had 18 points and Abdul Al-tamimi added 10 points to round out the trio of Wolves to reach double-digit points in the game.
Omeechi Williams played a key role coming off the bench with five points, four rebounds, four steals, and two assists.
Caribou picked up seven of his 15 points in the second quarter when the Huskies needed a spark. He went four-of-seven from the field, knocking down three of his five attempts from beyond the arc.
"[I] started hitting shots, I was good on the defensive end; brought the energy we needed on the boards," said Caribou of his play. "It felt pretty good."
Collectively, the Huskies shot 40.3 per cent (27-of-67) from the field, also shooting 70.4 per cent (19-of-27) on free throws.
"Keenan was great off the bench," added Wielenga. "He gave us a great spark defensively and also hit some [timely] shots for us.
"It definitely helped secure the win for us."