LANGLEY, B.C. – Nearly doubling their opponents up on the glass, the No. 8 ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies men's basketball team started 2020 off with a dominant 98-70 victory over the Trinity Western Spartans Friday at the Langley Events Centre.
 
With the loss the TWU's record falls to 2-7 on the season, while Saskatchewan improves to 7-2.
 
Alexander Dewar dropped 19 points for the Huskies, while Maxwell Amoafo and Kessler Bishop led the charge down low. Both players recorded double-doubles in the game with Amoafo scoring 15 points and pulling down 10 boards with Bishop tallying 12 and 12.
 
Pulling down 56 rebounds to the Spartans 35, the Huskies imposed their will on the offensive glass, scoring 19 second-chance points off of 20 offensive rebounds.
 
Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath (Amarillo, Tex.) scored a team leading 18 points for the Spartans, while Adam Gehrig (Toowoomba, Aust.) added 13 points alongside a team high seven rebounds. 
 
Both teams started the first quarter slow and finished strong, as the Huskies came out to an early six point lead before a late dunk from Spartans centre Andrew Goertzen (Langley) gave TWU a 22-21 lead heading into the second quarter.  
 
The second frame saw both teams frequently trading leads, with TWU forward Gehrig hitting a pair of early 3-pointers. The Huskies then pulled ahead late courtesy of a JT Robinson 3-point shot with 10 seconds left, as Saskatchewan led 46-39 at halftime.
 
Gehrig continued his sharpshooting for the Spartans in the second half, drilling a pair of 3-pointers to pull the score even at 52-52 early, before the Huskies took the lead emphatically on a 24-6 run and leading 76-58 after the third quarter. 
 
Saskatchewan then closed out the game by carrying its second half momentum into the fourth quarter, outscoring the Spartans 22-12 over the final 10 minutes of the game to win the game 98-70. 
 
The Huskies shot 45% (31-69) compared to the Spartans 39% (26/67) from the field.