Despite a boisterous home crowd at the David E. Enarson Gym, the Trinity Western men’s basketball team was unable to overcome a hot-shooting UC (University of California) Riverside, as it fell 98-76 Friday night.
The Highlanders shot 70 per cent from the field in the first half to build a 20-point lead and, from there, cruised to a convincing win. The closest the Spartans got was cutting the lead to a dozen points early in the fourth quarter.
The Spartans had a 33-24 edge on the glass, which included a 15-6 advantage on the offensive boards, but turnovers and UCR’s impressive shooting proved to be their undoing. Both teams took 57 shots, but UCR hit 37 while TWU hit 26. The Spartans also committed 25 turnovers to UCR’s 21.
Riverside’s Sam Finley led all scorers with 24 points.
The Spartans were led by Mark Perrin who had 16 points while Denny McDonald added 12 and Anthony Ottley and Kelvin Smith each contributed 11.
“I think we turned the ball over too much,” said Spartans coach Scott Allen.
“Our offensive rebounding was excellent and the energy in that regard was fantastic. Our focus in the first few weeks has been on being a little more intense and aggressive and it’s a long process but I think it’s a good step.
“They’re (UCR) talented athletes and the guys on their team who can shoot the ball shot well. Number one (Finley) went off on us and that’s just poor defence. But at the end of the day, I’m happy with a lot of things that I saw and the improvements we’ve made over the last two weeks have been good.”
