ABBOTSFORD – The Fraser Valley Cascades prevailed 69-62 in men's basketball action Friday evening against the UBC Thunderbirds in what was the first meeting between the two since last year's matchup in the Canada West Final Four Tournament. UFV's Kevon Parchment led all scorers with 20 points to help the Cascades move into a tie for fifth with UBC in the Canada West with identical 4-5 records.
BOX SCORE
Â
Despite outscoring their opponents in the final three quarters, a poor start in the opening quarter put UBC too far in deficit to trigger a comeback. The Cascades went on a 10-0 run midway through the first quarter exiting with a 24-10 lead. Two timeouts in the first proved not enough to ignite the Thunderbirds offense but improved their play from thereon in.
Â
With a 12-point deficit entering the second quarter, the Thunderbirds managed to cut the lead to nine with the score 35-24 in favour of Fraser Valley entering halftime. Playing in just his third game of the season after succumbing to injury earlier in the year,
Isaiah Solomon highlighted a 7-0 run for the Thunderbirds with a pair of layups during the second quarter.
Â
The Thunderbirds would outscore Fraser Valley by a basket in both the third and fourth quarters but would fall short in the end seeing their two-game winning streak come to an end. Despite closing the lead down to four in the third, Fraser Valley held on leading the entire way for all but one possession.
Â
The Thunderbirds continue to battle for a playoff spot just shy of the midway point of the season, currently sitting eight points back of division leader Victoria, who are six points clear of second.
Tommy Nixon led the Thunderbirds in scoring topping his point-per-game average with 14 points on the night. He was also strong on the boards collecting five rebounds while dishing out two assists.
David Wagner was the only other Thunderbird in double-digits collecting 10 points to go along with five boards. Solomon finished the night with nine points in what was a sub-par performance by UBC after strong play last weekend.
Â
Four UFV players scored in double-digits including Amrit Gill with 12 while Kadeem Willis and Jasper Moedt collected 11 points a piece. The games leading scorer, Parchment, managed 12 rebounds and 6 assists to compliment his 20-point performance.
Â
Fraser Valley shot 46 per cent from the field while the Thunderbirds were 36 per cent on Friday night.
In what will be the final game of 2013, the Thunderbirds look to split the weekend double-header as the two teams meet again tomorrow night at 7:00 pm at the Envision Athletic Centre in Abbotsford.
