Men's Basketball Huskies fend off Vikings to stay perfect
The Keyano Huskies Men's Basketball team faced their strongest challenge of the season Saturday and prevailed 60-54 against the University of Alberta – Augustana Vikings to keep their perfect record intact at 8-0.
"It was a grind. wasn't pretty," said Head Coach Jeremy Wielenga. "We turned the ball over a few too many times, but I thought their defence pressured us into doing that.
"I thought both teams fought hard and it was just one of those grind-it-out battles that we found a way to be on the right side of it."
The Huskies took an eight-point lead after the first quarter, but the Vikings battled back to make it a one-point game by the end of the third quarter. The Huskies shook off the challenge and won the fourth quarter by a 16-11 score to earn the victory by the six-point margin.
"It's been the first time we played back-to-back since November," said Jacob Simmons, who had 15 points and six rebounds while being named the player of the game. "I think we were maybe just a little bit tired, didn't really have the legs under us and we just ended up grinding it out. It was a good win I felt like."
In addition to Simmons, three other Huskies tallied double-digit points in the contest. Sean Michael-Clancey added another double double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, contributing eight steals as well.
Omeechi Williams contributed 12 points off the bench and Ringo Dau knocked down two of his team's seven three-point shots as he finished with 10 points.
Wielenga gave credit to the Vikings for pushing the Huskies and wrestling momentum away from the home side at points throughout the match. Keeping his team focused on the next play ahead kept them in the game.
"All credit to them, they forced us to play out of our comfort zone and then they pressed us and forced us to do some things we didn't want to do so credit to them," said Wielenga. "We just rallied and stayed with it."
Nic Harder led the Vikings Saturday with 14 points and eight rebounds. Tyler Weenink joined him in the double-digit club with 10 points. Nathan Bowie and Jake Frostad each added eight points.
The Huskies finished the game shooting 32.8 per cent from the field on 22-of-67 shooting, including the aforementioned seven three-point shots. They made nine of 16 free-throw attempts.
Right there with them were the Vikings, who shot 31.7 per cent from the field on 20-of-63 shooting. The long-range game wasn't their friend Saturday with just three of 21 attempted three-point shots made. They sank 11 of their 15 free throw attempts.
"They did a great job of hitting tough shots and it's not really getting down on those tough shots, but letting our defence dictate our energy, not our offence," said Simmons.
As Wielenga eyes ways to make his 8-0 team more dangerous, he discussed managing the minutes for his bench players like Williams and Keenan Caribou, who continued to provide solid minutes in relief Saturday.
"It's really tough with the talent that we do have, to manage who's going to start and who doesn't," said Wielenga. "Both guys have got to continue to do what they do and they're going to play big minutes for us so it's not really who starts the game and who ends the game.
"Both guys have been tremendous with their energy and we're excited to have them as part of our team."
There's no doubt though that the Huskies welcomed the challenge brought forth by the Vikings as their season intensifies towards playoffs.
"We like to challenge ourselves every single weekend," said Simmons. "Giving these tough ones, credit to them for bringing it to us, these tough ones really help us make ourselves better in the long run."
The Huskies remain on the home court this coming weekend, hosting the NAIT Ooks for a pair of games. The Huskies and Ooks tip off at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 29 and 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 30 at the Syncrude Sport and Wellness Centre.