Box Score Lethbridge – The Lethbridge Pronghorns men's basketball team earned the sweep of the Trinity Western Spartans on Saturday night and secured fourth place in the Pioneer Division in the process, winning by a score of 96-75.
Zac Overwater and Brandon Brine led the 'Horns, 20 points each. With the 20 point night, Brine moved into eighth spot in on the Pronghorn all-time scoring list with 1018 points.
Lucas Mannes led his Spartans, with 20 points and Kelvin Smith had a 16 point performance in his last game as a Spartan.
The Spartans started the game hot, going on a 10-2 run, and would have the lead for the majority of the first quarter.
The 'Horns would finally wake up, though, and fight their way back to tie it with 3:47 remaining in the quarter, and take the lead shortly after, with 2:29 left. They would take a seven point lead to the second quarter, 27-20.
Both teams shot extremely well in the first quarter. The 'Horns went 47.4% from the field and 46.2% on the deep ball. The Spartans went a solid 50.0% from the field, and 42.9% on three-pointers.
Rebounds were even at 9 apiece.
The game remained a close contest throughout the latter parts of the first half, in the second quarter, as the 'Horns wouldn't build on their seven point lead established in the first quarter and the Spartans had an answer for every move made by the 'Horns, offensively, and the quarter, and the half, ended with the Spartans within three, 37-34.
The 'Horns, clearly a second half team, were just that again on Saturday evening, blowing this game wide open in the third quarter. They outscored the Spartans 34-16 in the quarter, finishing with a 71-50 lead.
The fourth was dead even, as each team potted 25 points. The seniors of the 'Horns put on a bit of a show early on in the quarter, as Rob Olsen fed Brine not once, but twice for a couple highlight reel alley-oops.
The 'Horns shot 43.1% over the course of the game from the field, and 39.5% on three-pointers. They also crushed it on rebounds, 46-38.
The Spartans shot 37.7% from the field, and 32.0% from down town.
Bench points, and points off of turnovers was the story in this one, as the 'Horns won both categories, 46-25 and 28-11, respectively.
Next weekend, the 'Horns will have a bye to the quarterfinals round of the Canada West playoffs and travel to Vancouver in two weeks' time to take on the UBC Thunderbirds.
