Leading by one point in the final minute, the Trinity Western Spartans could not hang on, falling 100-94 to the visiting Regina Cougars on Saturday night.
After taking the lead, the Cougars closed out the victory with six free throws and combined with a 107-74 win the night before, Regina swept the two-game set against the Spartans at the Langley Events Centre.
The losses dropped Trinity Western’s record to 2-6 in Canada West conference play.
A big turning point in the game was Tyus Allen’s second half injury for the Spartans.
“If that injury doesn’t happen, we win the game. That’s how I feel,” said Spartans coach Aaron Muhic.
“Our guys decided to come to play tonight. We just didn’t finish. It’s not fun to lose, but our guys need to keep their heads up and get ready for next week.”
Despite being limited to 22 minutes, Allen finished just two assists shy of a triple-double with 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
Pogos Trunyan led the way with 26 points and Vartan Tanielian had 18.
The Spartans shot 43 per cent from the field, including 43.5 per cent from beyond the arc as they connected on 10 of 23 three-point attempts.
One big difference in the game was points in the paint as the Cougars held a 52-36 advantage.
In Friday’s game, the Spartans were down in by a poor first half as they were down 54-24 at the break and could not recover.
Tanielian led the team with 23 points while Patrick Vandervelden had 17 points and eight rebounds, as well as a pair of blocked shots.
The Spartans close out the first part of their regular season with a pair of games on Dec. 2 and 3 against Lethbridge. Both will be played at the David Enarson Gym on the TWU campus with a 7 p.m. tip-off.
