The UBC Okanagan Heat couldn’t hold court at home and went down to defeat twice at the hands of Trinity Western in Canada West men’s basketball action.
On Friday, Yassine Ghomari’s 33 points and nine-rebound effort wasn’t enough as the Spartans held off the Heat for an 83-77 win.
Simon Pelland added 23 in the loss, while 6-foot-8 post Kyle Coston led TWU with 20.
“Second chance points were a key factor in (Friday’s) loss,” said Heat assistant Matt Heyworth. “I think they had way too many in the first half; they probably had a dozen and it’s too many. We did what we wanted on defense and made them play in their half court but you can only give them one chance.”
On Saturday, the Spartans cranked it up a notch and took down the Heat 83-56.
The Heat struggled on both ends of the floor, and were unable to find any offensive rhythm as they committed 25 turnovers against a stifling TWU defense.
“We had some guys banged up,” said UBCO coach Darren Semeniuk. “Iain Con tried to play the first couple of shifts and then was done for the night. It was one of those nights where we really needed to have things going our way to keep our energy up and it didn’t happen. Our energy got low, they took advantage of it and we stopped making basketball plays.”
UBC Okanagan was led in scoring by point guard Bret Macdonald who had 16 points and seven rebounds. Simon Pelland added 12 points for the Heat who slip to 2-8 on the season.
UBCO faces a tough weekend on the road as they visit the No. 4 University of Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday in Saskatoon, and the No. 8 Alberta Golden Bears Saturday in Edmonton.
Heat women
The UBC Okanagan Heat put up a fight but came away empty-handed in back-to-back games against Trinity Western in Canada West women’s basketball action.
On Friday at the Kelowna campus, the Heat rallied with a solid fourth quarter but fell short 73-69 to the Spartans.
Roz Huber, who returned after missing one game with an injury, led the Heat with 25 points and eight rebounds.
Madison Kaneda and Angela White each added 10 points for the Heat who, despite the occasional letdown, drew praise from their head coach.
“My girls just play with heart. They get on the role of doing things right, its just those dips when things don’t go right,” said Heather Semeniuk. “The turnovers hurt us and we weren’t getting those second chances. We were also settling for some shots and missing some free throws that we shouldn’t have. Overall, I think they did great.”
On Saturday, the Spartans tightened up defensively and downed a fatigued Heat squad 63-50.
“I think we were a little tired. We gave a lot of time out to our starters (Friday) so they didn’t have that spunk and that energy that we needed,” said Heather Semeniuk.
Guard Madison Kaneda was the only member of the Heat to shoot in the double digits Saturday, scoring 10 points and grabbing four rebounds.
For the first time this season Huber failed to reach double digits in scoring, as she and Audrey Siebert-Timmer each had eight points.
Next up for the Heat (2-8) is the No. 5 University of Saskatchewan Huskies Friday night in Saskatoon.
“Saskatchewan will be a tough match-up, they’ve got some big kids,” Semeniuk added. “They’re a seasoned team and they know the business to expect in CIS so it’ll be a hard road trip there.”
On Saturday, UBCO will be in Edmonton to battle the No. 6 Alberta Pandas.
