EDMONTON – Closing out the Canada West regular season, the Lethbridge Pronghorns cruised to 95-73 victory over the MacEwan Griffins at the David Atkinson Gymnasium in Edmonton.
With the win the Pronghorns clinched third place in the Central Division and more importantly a bye in the first round of the Canada West tournament. The win also improved the Pronghorns record to 500 at 8-8.
The Griffins, while every team makes the Canada West tournament this season, finished the regular season with a 0-15 record. MacEwan will play in the opening round of the tournament next Thursday in either Calgary or Lethbridge.
For the second consecutive game Chad Oviatt recorded a double-double in the win. Oviatt had a game high 18 points to go along with a career high 17 rebounds in his final regular season game as a Pronghorn. Jeff Rodehutskors added 17 points and Deng Dak chipped in with 11 points.
Milan Jaksic led the Griffins with 15 points and Jesse Trussler and Eric Carretero Lopez picked up with 13 and 10 points respectively.
Looking to complete the season series sweep of the Griffins, the Pronghorns opened with a 16-2 run to take control early. However, MacEwan reeled the deficit back to only eight points by the end of the opening 10 minutes.
Similar to the second quarter a night ago, the two teams traded baskets throughout the majority of the second quarter, but a 16-9 run to close the half put the Pronghorns up 47-31 at the break.
In the half, the Pronghorns hit on nearly 45% of their shots from the field compared to the Griffins 33% and the Pronghorns were able to turn offensive pressure to 15 trips to the free throw line to build the lead to 16 points. MacEwan only attempted four fouls shots in the opening half.
Baskets on four consecutive possessions to open the second half set the tone for the rest of the game and pushed the Pronghorn lead to 25 points. At the end of the third quarter, the Pronghorn held a commanding 77-48 lead and didn't look back.
Building a 32 point lead early in the fourth and the outcome decided, the Pronghorns played their entire roster rest of the way and cruised to the 22 point victory.
The University of Lethbridge will host half of the Canada West men's basketball playoff tournament next Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Pronghorns will playing the late game next Friday night in a single game elimination game. The opponent is still to be determined.
