Lethbridge – Coming off a solid first semester of conference action, the Lethbridge Pronghorn men's basketball team returns to conference action this weekend traveling to face the Mount Royal Cougars and UNBC Timberwolves.
 
Through 10 games, the Pronghorns sit in third place in the Prairie Division at 7-3, trailing both the Alberta Golden Bears (9-1) and Saskatchewan Huskies (9-1) by two games.
 
Thursday night in Calgary, the 'Horns  take on the 5-5 Cougars, who are also battling for playoff positioning in the Pacific Division, and enter the second semester locked in a three-way tie for third in the Division with Trinity Western and Fraser Valley.
 
Heading into the second half of the season, the 'Horns boast one of the most potent offensive attacks in the conference, ranked second in points per game averaging 82.9 points a night. But they will need to shore up the defensive end of the court in the second half if they hope to challenge either Alberta or Saskatchewan for a first round home playoff date. Currently, the 'Horns are ranked 12^th defensive, allowing 78.6 points per game.
 
While Brandon Brine leads the 'Horns offensively averaging 16.5 points per game, the 'Horns have been driven by balanced attack with three other players averaging double digits in points per game. Senior guards Logan Reiter and Morgan Duce are averaging 15.7 and 14.2 points per game, while first-year Pronghorn Jared Baker had a solid first semester and is scoring at 13 point per game clip.
 
Ranked eighth in both offense (72.6) and defense (75.9) the Cougars had a streaky first half of the season and enter the New Year on a two-game losing streak.
 
Individually, the Cougars are also relying on four players offensively with Awet Abraha and James Lefebvre leading the way, averaging 11.9 and 11.5 points per game respectively, while Jared Cornish and Deng Awak are each scoring just over 10 points per game.
 
The 'Horns Saturday night opponent, the UNBC Timberwolves had a trying first half of the season and a pair of three game losing streaks leave the Timberwolves in second last place in the Pacific Division.
 
Statistically the Timberwolves enter the second half as the 11^th ranked offensive team, scoring just over 70 points per contest and are ranked 13^th defensively, allowing 78.9 points a game.
 
Senior guard Charles Barton leads the Timberwolves offensively with 16.5 points per game.
 
Tip-off in Calgary on Thursday is set for 8:00pm, while Saturday's game versus the Timberwolves will go at 8:00pm Pacific Standard Time. Both games will also be streamed live on http://canadawest.tv.
 

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