Lethbridge – Coming off a disappointing weekend sweep at the hands of Provincial rival Alberta Golden Bears, the Lethbridge Pronghorn men’s basketball team (3-3 CW) returns to their home court for the final time during the first semester to host the UNBC Timberwolves (4-2 CW) and Mount Royal Cougars (2-4 CW).
 
Despite being held to 58 points in both of their losses last weekend, the ‘Horns still lead the conference in scoring and are near the top in many offensive categories. The ‘Horns are averaging just shy of 92 points a game and lead the conference in free throw percentage at 78.3%.
 
Relying on a balanced attack, the ‘Horns have had five different players lead the team in scoring through six games and have five players averaging double digits in points. Fifth-year senior Derek Waldner leads the way for the ‘Horns with 15.7 points and 8 rebounds a game, while newcomer Chaz Johnson and Logan Reiter sit second and third respectively.
 
While the offensive game, prior to last weekend, has been hitting on all cylinders, the ‘Horns are going to need to shore up their defensive game if they are going to be successful this season. Through three weekends the ‘Horns are ranked 13^th in the conference defensively, allowing 86 points per night.
 
The UNBC Timberwolves, who are in their inaugural Canada West season, have had a good start to their first campaign, but the three schools they have faced thus far rank at the bottom of the Pacific Division. The Timberwolves come to Lethbridge riding a two game winning streak after sweeping the UBC-O Heat last weekend.
 
At the offensive end of the court, the fourth ranked offense is led by a pair of seniors in Francis Rowe and Sam Raphael. Raphael sits tied for seventh in conference scoring, averaging 18.2 ppg, while Rowe is averaging 17.5 points a night.
 
On the defensive end, the Timberwolves rank just slightly ahead of the ‘Horns, ranked 12^th allowing just under 84 points a night.
 
Saturday night the ‘Horns will face the Mount Royal Cougars for the first time in conference action and begin a new southern Alberta rivalry.  While the Cougars have had a tougher time adjusting to the university level than their fellow first-year school UNBC, the Cougars have been solid defensively, ranked sixth in the conference allowing only 73.5 points per game.
 
Coming into this weekend, the Cougars have spilt their last two weekend series and their 13^th ranked offense showed some life last weekend versus Thompson Rivers.  In their win last Friday the Cougars scored a season high 91 points and followed up that performance with 80 points in a nine point loss, both well above their season average of 70.2 points per game.
 
Third-year guard Awet Abraha and fifth-year forward Nick Loewen are the only two Cougars to average double digits in points with 15.7 and 15 respectively.
 
Both games follow the women’s games at the 1^st Choice Savings Centre at 8:00pm and are webcast on www.canadawest.tv, home for all Canada West webcasts.


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