LETHBRIDGE – For the third straight playoff, the Lethbridge Pronghorn men's basketball team heads to Edmonton to face the Alberta Golden Bears in a best of three series.
 
The quarter-final series will begin on Thursday with Game 1 at 8:00 p.m., with Game 2 set for Friday, and if necessary, Game 3 on Saturday night. All three games of the series will also be streamed live on pay per view at www.canadawest.tv.
 
A look at the teams 
 
In the third playoff meeting in as many years, the Pronghorns (12-8, 1-0) will be looking to finally get the better of the Golden Bears (15-5) after Alberta ended their playoff run two years in a row. Last year in the Canada West semifinal, Alberta swept the Pronghorns 2-0 and earned a 2-1 series win in 2017.
 
The provincial rivals met earlier this season in Edmonton with the Bears winning both games, 85-72 and 87-74.
 
In a clash of styles, the Pronghorns top ranked offense will have to find a way to break through the second best defence during the Canada West season if they are going to reverse the trend of the previous two playoff meetings. Lethbridge averaged a Canada West best 94.8 points per game, including shooting a conference leading 47.5%, while Alberta only allowed 72.5 points per game to fished second in Canada West behind the undefeated Calgary Dinos.
 
Players to watch
 
As he did for most of the year, senior Zac Overwater led the Pronghorns to a big win over the Victoria Vikes in the Canada West play-in game to advance to the quarterfinals. During the regular season, Overwater led the Pronghorns in scoring with 19.1 points per game and scored a game high 20 points in the Pronghorns 33-point win over the Vikes.
 
With four other Pronghorns averaging double digit points as well during the season, the Pronghorns will need big contributions from Mike Pierzchala, Kyle Peterson, Colton Gibb and Eric Pierce if they are going to win the series.
 
For the Golden Bears, Brody Clarke is the key to his team's success, averaging a team-best 19.8 points per game to go along with 10.9 rebounds to be the only player in Canada West to average a double-double over 20 conference games this season.
 
Ivan Ikomey and Andrea Kelly averaged 11.9 and 10.8 points per game respectively.
 
Up Next
 
The winner of this week's quarterfinal will face the winner of the UBC – Fraser Valley series in one of two Canada West semifinals.