The UFV Cascades men’s basketball team ended their season Saturday with a 79-70 loss to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in Canada West Final Four action. The Cascades finish fourth in Canada West for the second straight year, an impressive accomplishment for a team that entered the season ranked eleventh in the conference.
UFV bounced back from Friday’s defeat (losing to the Victoria Vikes 77-57) with a much better game Saturday and led by as many as nine points during the second quarter. Unfortunately the Cascades continued to suffer from a stuttering three-point percentage, hitting only 6 of 29 attempts compared to the Huskies’ 10-32. While the two teams kept the score relatively close throughout the first three quarters, it was an 11-0 Huskies run bridging the last two quarters that seemed to pull the game out of reach of the Cascades.
The difference was Huskie Stephon Lamar, last season’s Canada West MVP, who scored 26 points and had 6 assists against the Cascades. The Huskies’ next two leading scorers, Matt Forbes and Ben Baker, each had 13 points. UFV was once again out-rebounded by their opponents, this time 53-38.
UFV did receive impressive performances from Kevon Parchment (20 points and 10 rebounds) and Jasper Moedt (19 points and 9 rebounds). In his last game as a Cascade, fifth-year senior Klaus Figueredo contributed seven points and two assists.
“I’m so proud of this group of guys,” said Cascades head coach Adam Friesen. “Very few teams each year can say they exceeded expectations and we did that for a second straight year. We wish the results this weekend could have been different, but the experience we gained by being here will only make us better for next year.”