The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men's basketball team is looking for a little identity.
Looking for their first win of the second half of the Canada West season, the Horns fell short with an 87-77 loss to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in Canada West play Saturday night at the 1st Choice Savings Centre.
The loss comes on the heels of an 86-82 loss to the Huskies Friday night as the Pronghorns drop to 4-10 and see their losing streak hit four games, while the Huskies hit the road with the 2-0 sweep that ups their record to 3-9.
"The guys are frustrated, but we're having conversions about everyone just chipping in," said Pronghorns head coach Jermaine Small. "I said to them that everyone has to be able to chip in something, bring something to the party. We're just having too many nights where it's almost like I feel I'm rolling dice in terms of I don't know who is going to give us what. We're going to make some adjustments in practice, make it competitive and I think that will hopefully translate to how we want to be in the next six games because it's do-or-die time. The one thing is I know we're going to give our all when our backs are against the wall, but we've dealt ourselves quite a rough hand here and we're not going to give up. That's the one thing, we're not going to give up. We're going to try and find a way to get better and get into the playoffs."
On Saturday, the Pronghorns kept it close with the Huskies, falling behind early but cutting the gap to three at the half on a Deng Dak three-pointer at the buzzer that made it 48-45 Saskatchewan.
But after closing the score to 69-68 with seven minutes to go, the Huskies managed to pull away for the 10-point win and weekend sweep.Â
"It was a slow start, I think the slow start really hurt us," said Small. "(When you) play from behind the whole game you exert so much energy coming back and I thought once we got back, we committed a stupid foul or there was a bad call and we couldn't get over the hump. I give them (Huskies) some credit. They stayed to their game plan, they bent but they didn't break. But I felt like we just couldn't get over the hump tonight."
Dak led the Horns with 20 points and Kymani Pollard added 14.
Jeff Rodehutskors and Tag Layton also hit double digits with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Avery Hutcheson had 16 rebounds, six assists and three steals.
"There were some parts that were better, no doubt," said Small of comparisons to Friday's tough loss. "We just had a pretty good talk and our defence is just not where it needs to be. I think overall we're just inconsistent (on) offence and defence. We played really good for three minutes and then we just disappear for a second.
"Obviously it wasn't the result I wanted, but at the same time I felt that in certain spurts it looked like who we are. But it's frustrating, no doubt."
For the Huskies, Tyrese Potoma had a 21-point outing to go with five rebounds.
Alexander Dewar had 16 points, Erwin Loic Ngouadjeu Kitio counted for 13 and Maxwell Amoafo bucketed 12 and pulled in eight rebounds.
Coming off the winless weekend, the Pronghorns get a bye week and before heading to Regina to face the 5-7 Cougars Jan. 27-28.
Both the men's and women's teams return to the 1st Choice Savings Centre Feb. 3 and 4 when the MacEwan Griffins pay a visit.
"Having some time off is going to help," said Small. "We have to recalibrate and just kind of get away from it for a little bit. I think we just have to refocus and I think this break is perfect timing for us. I'm happy we have it and hopefully we make the most of it."
The Pronghorns shot 40.8 per cent from the field, 30.8 per cent from the three-point line and 57.9 per cent on free throws.
The Huskies were 51.7 per cent from the field, 45.5 from beyond the arc and 68.2 from the free throw line.
