The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men's basketball team faced an opponent who simply wanted it a bit more.
Those opponents got it as the Horns were topped 86-82 by the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in Canada West play Friday night at the 1st Choice Savings Centre.
The win hands the Huskies their second victory of the season and improves them to 2-9, while the Horns remain in the hunt for their first win of the second half, falling to 4-9 on the season.
Post-game, Pronghorns head coach Jermaine Small pointed to a Huskies squad that simply wanted it more and also won the battles under the boards, grabbing 46 rebounds to the Pronghorns 38.
Some technical foul trouble at the end for the home side didn't help either as the Horns dealt with a figurative bad night at the office Friday night as the teams go back at it Saturday night.
"The one thing I did mention to the team is that's a desperate team there," said Small. "They're fighting for their lives to get into the playoffs and I think the glass was a result of how desperate they were. They beat us on the glass pretty good. They won a lot of loose balls at the end and I have to give them credit. They're a scrappy group and they were more desperate."
The Huskies led 27-26 after the first quarter and 51-42 at the half.
The Horns outscored the Huskies 21-14 in the third quarter to close the gap, Saskatchewan held a 21-19 advantage in the final quarter to close out the win.
"We still had our chances," said Small. "I thought we had some good things. We only had 10 turnovers tonight, which is really good. But sometimes the game is about who wants it more and I felt, especially in certain situations, they wanted it more and obviously we were a little bit undisciplined at the end and that hurt us. It's part of it, we'll learn from it and we'll move on to tomorrow."
Deng Dak paced the Pronghorns with 20 points, while Kymani Pollard added 17 and Jeff Rodehutskors had 14 points. Pollard also had six assists.
Tag Layton came off the bench to also hit double digits for the Pronghorns with a 12-point night.
Angelo Mbituyimana pulled seven rebounds for Lethbridge.
Alexandar Dewar led the Huskies with 26 points and seven rebounds and Tyrese Potoma added 20.
Fisayo Moibi hit for 19 points for Saskatchewan and Erwin Loic chipped in with 12 for the visitors.
The Pronghorns shot 40.3 per cent from the field, 31.8 per cent from the three-point line and 68 per cent on foul shots.
The Huskies were 44.8 per cent from the field, 31.3 per cent from beyond the arc and 76.3 per cent on free throws.
"We didn't play to our potential last weekend," said Small of an 0-2 weekend in Calgary against the Mount Royal Cougars. "But we started off well and sometimes we don't realize it's a 40-minute game. It's frustrating, but no one is going to feel sorry for us. We have to come out and play tomorrow and we have to get one."
The rematch Saturday tips off at 7 p.m.
"I think it's definitely being more disciplined," said Small. "We definitely self-inflicted some technical and some fouls and at the end. I think it playing a 40-minute game. I really believe just play for one another, play hard and clean up the rebounding. I think that's based purely on effort and if we weren't desperate (Friday) we're definitely going to have to be desperate (Saturday)."
