Box Score LETHBRIDGE – The last time the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s basketball team met the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades, the game decision came down to the final shot and history seemed to repeat itself tonight at the 1^st Choice Savings Centre as the game came down to a single possession. The only difference this time was that the ‘Horns came out on top, finishing with a slim 74-72 victory over the Cascades.

Derek Waldner led the ‘Horns in both scoring and rebounding with his now familiar double-double statistics at 18 and 16 respectively. Morgan Duce finished with 17 points and 8 boards, while Julian Spear Chief-Morris connected for 12 points, half of those resulting from a pair of timely threes, and also pulled down nine rebounds. Cascades guard Kevon Parchment led all scorers with 23 points and also grabbed the most rebounds for his team with nine. Backcourt-mate Sam Freeman, fresh from a 41-point performance against the University of Calgary Dinos the previous night added15 in the loss.

The first half saw the ‘Horns settle into their talented high-octane offense, even spreading around the point guard duties to further speed up their already fast-paced transition game. Still more notable was the ‘Horns’ defense that looked a lot more threatening than their usual performance that is rated, statistically, at the bottom of the conference. However, perhaps the ‘Horns saw the women’s nail-biter just before their own tip-off and wanted to duplicate the drama, but a dreadful seven point third quarter all but evaporated the 19 point lead they had built going into half time and the teams headed into the fourth period only 54-49 in favor of the home team. With five minutes left to play, Nathan Kendall hit a three that boosted the Cascades to a 61-60 advantage and their first lead since a 1-0 score in the opening seconds. A couple of treys from Spear Chief-Morris kept the game within reach over the next two minutes and a double-clutch jumper from Waldner regained the ‘Horns’ lead at 69-68 with a minute and a half to play. Waldner put in another deuce on a layup just inside the one minute mark to push the lead to three until Parchment knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the Cascade deficit back to one with 11 seconds to play. Forced to foul, the Cascades sent Alex Fletcher to the line who also connected on a couple to change the score to 73-70 with seven ticks to go. Seeming to favor the dramatic, the ‘Horns sent Parchment back to the line with five seconds on the clock and he added a single. Duce also missed one from the line with three seconds to play, but his free throw left the score at an uneasy 74-72 going into the final possession. With every fan who watched the final game of last year’s playoff series between these same teams experiencing an eerie déjà vu and remembering an identical two-point ‘Horns advantage that was vaporized by a controversial Cascades three pointer at the buzzer that ended the ‘Horns’ playoff run, Parchment lobbed a long three at the final horn that banked off the backboard only just too hard, but nonetheless secured a ‘Horns win.

With the win, the ‘Horns climb back to .500 at 7-7, while the Cascades drop to an identical record going into next weekend against the UNBC Timberwolves. The ‘Horns will travel to Winnipeg to face the 10-5 Manitoba Bisons in the hopes of climbing into a playoff spot. Games will be webcast on canadawest.tv.