LETHBRIDGE, AB - The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men's basketball team faced an opponent who simply wanted it a more. The Saskatchewan Huskies would win 86-82 against the Pronghorns in Canada West action on Friday night. The win hands the Huskies their second victory of the season and improves them to 2-9, while the Pronghorns remain in the hunt for their first win of the second half, falling to 4-9 on the season.
Post-game, Pronghorns head coach Jermaine Small pointed to a Huskies squad that simply wanted it more and also won the battles under the boards, grabbing 46 rebounds to the Pronghorns 38.
Some technical foul trouble at the end for the home side didn't help either as Lethbridge dealt with a figurative bad night at the office Friday night as the teams go back at it Saturday night.
The Huskies led 27-26 after the first quarter and 51-42 at the half. The Pronghorns outscored the Huskies 21-14 in the third quarter to close the gap, Saskatchewan held a 21-19 advantage in the final quarter to close out the win.
"We still had our chances," said Small. "I thought we had some good things. We only had 10 turnovers tonight, which is really good. But sometimes the game is about who wants it more and I felt, especially in certain situations, the Huskies wanted it more and obviously we were a little bit undisciplined at the end and that hurt us."
Deng Dak paced the Pronghorns with 20 points, while Kymani Pollard added 17 and Jeff Rodehutskors had 14 points. Pollard also had six assists. Tag Layton came off the bench to also hit double digits for the Pronghorns with a 12-point night.
Saskatchewan's Alexandar Dewar led the Huskies with 26 points and seven rebounds and Tyrese Potoma added 20. Fisayo Moibi hit for 19 points for Saskatchewan and Erwin Loic chipped in with 12 for the Huskies.
The Pronghorns shot 40.3 per cent from the field, 31.8 per cent from the three-point line and 68 per cent on foul shots. The Huskies were 44.8 per cent from the field, 31.3 per cent from beyond the arc and 76.3 per cent on free throws.
The Huskies will look to build on tonight's momentum as the rematch tips off on Saturday night at 8:00 PM. Game can be streamed live on CanadaWest.TV.
