Lethbridge - The Pronghorn men’s basketball team (4-4 CW, 5-11 overall) returns to conference action this weekend for the first time in more than a month, traveling to British Columbia to face a pair of interior-BC schools in the Trinity Western Spartans (2-6 CW) and CIS 9^th ranked Fraser Valley Cascades (5-3).
 
Friday night, the ‘Horns face the Spartans in Langley before completing the trip in Abbotsford the next night versus the Cascades. Last year, the Spartans swept the ‘Horns in Lethbridge, while the ‘Horns and Cascades split their weekend series, also in Lethbridge.
 
Tip-off for both nights is scheduled for 8:00pm and 7:00pm PST respectively and the game will also be webcast on www.canadawest.tv, home of all Canada West webcasts.
 
Horns look to keep pace
A solid first half of the season sees the ‘Horns holding on to the final playoff spot in the East division, but only one game ahead of the Brandon Bobcats and Calgary Dinos.
 
Entering the second half of the 2011-12 campaign, the ‘Horns have shown exceptional improvement at the defensive end of the floor this season, but that will need that to continue if they are to be successful going forward. Last season the ‘Horns finished second last at the defensive end of the floor allowing more than 88 points against. Through 8 games this season, the ‘Horns have the sixth ranked defense in the conference and are allowing nearly 11 fewer points a night at 77.9.
 
Offensively, Daryl Cooper leads the ‘Horns in his first season since transferring from junior college in California.  Cooper sits 17^th on the conference scoring list averaging 14.3 points per game, while adding 4.3 assists a night a leading the conference in steals with 28.
 
Tough Schedule for the Spartans
While the Spartans had a rough first semester of the season, a lot of that could be contributed to playing arguably the toughest schedule in the conference. The Spartans 2-6 record can be misleading as all six of the teams losses have come against nationally ranked teams.
 
Offensively the Spartans are ranked 10^th in the conference averaging just over 77 points a night and are led by the conferences ninth leading scorer in Kyle Coston with 18 ppg, but it is the defensive end of the court that has hurt the Spartans this season. The Spartans are ranked 13^th in Canada West and are allowing nearly 90 points against a night.
 
Cascades Rolling at Home
The CIS 9^th ranked Fraser Valley Cascades also limped into the holiday break, losing their final two games before the break, but Abbotsford has been a tough place for visitors to play this season. The Cascades are 4-0 at home this season in conference action.
 
The fourth best offence in the conference, averaging more than 85 points per game, has been propelled by a balance attack with four Cascades averaging double digits led by Joel Friesen and Sam Freeman. Friesen is averaging 15.8 ppg, while Freeman is chipping in with 14.8. The Cascades also own the fourth ranked defense in the conference, allowing only 75.4 points per game.