LETHBRIDGE – Once again the Canada West playoff path flows through the provincial capital for the Lethbridge Pronghorn men's basketball team as for the four straight year, the Pronghorns face the third-ranked Alberta Golden Bears in Edmonton.
 
The Bears and Pronghorns will face each other in one of two Canada West single game quarter-final match-ups in Edmonton, tip-off is slated for 2:00 pm on Saturday. The winner will face the winner of the Manitoba – Victoria quarter-final Sunday at 2:00 pm. All Canada West post-season games will be streamed live on www.canadawest.tv, presented by Co-op.
 
The previous three playoff match-ups have not been kind to the Pronghorns, with the Golden Bears advancing following a best of series win. Last year the Pronghorns won game one before losing the next two games to be eliminated from the playoff picture.
 
During the opening weekend of the Canada West season this year, the Golden Bears swept the Pronghorns in Lethbridge.
 
A look at the teams
 
The Pronghorns advanced to the quarter-final with a 98-86 win over the Regina Cougars last Friday night and head to Edmonton riding a seven game winning streak.
 
During the regular season, the Pronghorns finished with the fourth best offence in Canada West, averaging 88.9 points per, while the 'Horns finished 13^th (88.7 ppg) defensively, their defensive play down the stretch was paramount to their success.
 
Continuing with a balanced attack, three Pronghorns shared the game high in points in last Friday night's win, with Kyle Peterson, Chad Oviatt and Keanu Funa each scoring 20 points in the win over Regina.
 
In conference play this season, six Pronghorns averaged double digits in points.
 
The Golden Bears (19-1) finished as the top seed in Canada West and had a bye last weekend.
 
The Bears finished the regular season as the No. 3 scoring team in Canada and second in Canada West with 92.2 points per game. The Bears also finished third in conference defence, allowing only 72.5 points against per game.
 
Alberta had five players average double digits this season but after returning from injury Brody Clarke led the Bears with 19.7 points per game. Clarke missed the first 14 conference games of the season.
 
Adam Paige and Ivan Ikomey finished second and third respectively in Bears scoring with 12.9 and 12.8 points per game.
 
The winner of Sunday's semifinal will advance to face the winner from the semifinal hosted in Calgary, with the single game Canada West Championship game being hosted by the highest remaining seed.