CIS Hoops.ca

Wayne Thomas provides his usual well-done piece on the Dinos coming weekend and Canada West in general... Bisons Duo Can Light It Up They may be the 32nd ranked team out of 43 in Canada, but the Manitoba Bisons possess two of the most dangerous shooters in Canada West. Isaac Ansah, 4th year, 6'1", guard is a pure scorer who can take you off the dribble, pull up for a jumper, and make the passes to set up his teammates. Darcy Coss, 6'4", 5th year wing is a streaky shooter with no discernible conscience, and he has launched 191 three point attempts this season, approaching 10 per game, and that, folks, is serious jacking ! Ansah averages 21.1 points and is tied for 3rd in Canada West scoring; he has a knack of drawing the foul and he converts 78% of his 8.6 attempts per game. Coss checks in at 15.8 ppg with highs of 34 in a big win over #4 Acadia, and 23 against both Minot State and Thompson Rivers; he is Manitoba's leadding rebounder at 6 per game. Another 5th year Bison who bears watching is Brian Crowe, their leading % FG shooter (51%), second leading rebounder with 5.6 per game, and scoring an average of 12 pts. Sean Landry, a 6'9" , 3rd year post is a Bishop Grandin, Calgary grad, who has started 7 games this season for the Gold and Brown, scoring only 4.9 ppg, and grabbing 4 rebounds. Landry has really had an in and out season ... some games he will get 20-24 minutes, and others he will not see the floor. Calgary should have Ross Bekkering back in the lineup given the week to rehab a sore ankle, and he will be a big help in re-establishing Calgary's dominance of the boards. Roscoe is averaging 10.4 a game and leading Canada West, and nobody skies like he does in protecting his own hoop. His brother Henry will be looking to extend his scoring streak, averaging 36 pts. in the two games last weekend. Jeff Price will likely get a crack at trying to shut down Ansah, and , in previous match-ups with highly touted adversaries , he has met the challenge with his aggressive style. Price is capable of hot shooting of his own, as he leads the Dinos and is 3rd in Canada West in 3 pt.% at 45.2. He is the leading free throw shooter in the league with 89%, and 2nd in assists with 4.9 per game. Tyler Fidler, the 6'8", 1st yr. guard is coming off an impressive performance against Thompson Rivers, and he will be a difficult match-up for Manitoba. The Dinos will be working on a recovery of their better form and trying to break out of a bit of the doldrums in more recent outings. The trick for the coaching staff is to get the work of preparation and improvement done while considering the value of tapering the workouts at this late stage of the season. The Dinos lead Canada West in scoring average - 87.5 ppg, and in rebounding margin at +8.8 per game, and those are two big categories. They are 6th in defense - 77.2 pts. against, tied for 2nd in scoring margin at 10.3, and are 3rd in FG% defense. Manitoba, at 4-14, are a big underdog to the 15-3 Dinos, who have not lost at home this campaign. game time is 8:00 pm Friday, and the game will be web - cast on NUTV, the campus TV station ... http://www.nutv.ca
Notes ...
> Calgary's 'magic number' is down to 1 for clinching the Central Division's top spot and home court for the Divisional Final. Any Bear's loss or Dinos' win, and Calgary gets the bye while Alberta hosts Saskatchewan in a best of three semi-final Feb. 15-17. The Divisional Final best of three would be Feb. 22-24 in Calgary, and the winner of that series would host the Canada West Final Four on Feb. 29 and March 1.
> Saturday night against Winnipeg Wesmen is Senior Night celebrating the Dinos 5th year grads , Jeremy Odland and Cody Darrah.
> A rare noon hour tip-off Friday for the Bears at UBC ... old ploy ... guaranteed T-Birds win !
> Want to know more about CIS grads playing overseas ? Check out the new Canada Basketball website ...
http://www.basketball.ca and click on 'Canadian Ballers'. Thanks to Dave Wells and Art Unsworth for that information.
> Canada West players graduating this season :
Alberta - Alex Steele, Richard Bates, Andrew Parker, Jeff Stork
Brandon - Yul Michel, Adam Hartman, Yuri Whyms
Calgary - Odland, Darrah
Lethbridge - none
Manitoba - Coss, Crowe
Regina - Bryden Wright, Adam Huffman
Saskatchewan - Andrew Spagrud, Kyle Grant, Jordan Harbidge, Rob Lovelace, Mark Lynch
Simon Fraser - Nolan Holmes
Thompson Rivers - Brent Traxel, Brian Smith
Trinity Western - Luke Robinson
UBC - none
Fraser Valley - Kyle Graves, Joel Haviland, Anthony Lao
Victoria - none
Winnipeg - Erfan Nasajpour, Matt Opalko, Dan Shynkaryk

Scott McLean's Simon Fraser Preview Burnaby, B.C. - It’s a critical point of the season for the Simon Fraser
University Clan men’s basketball team and it became even more critical with an
announcement made by their opponents for this weekend, the Trinity Western
University Spartans, earlier this week. Due to the fact that TWU has forfeited
three of their wins from earlier in the season because of the ineligibility of
Lucas Goltz, including one victory against the University College of the
Fraser Valley Cascades, the Clan and the Cascades are now in a dead heat for
third place in the Pacific Division.

While the four final playoff spots are set, both the Cascades (10-10) and the
Clan (10-10) are jockeying for third position in the Pac-D. SFU holds the lead
in the season series against Fraser Valley (2-1), and therefore controls their
own destiny down the stretch. UCFV has three games remaining against Thompson
Rivers, UBC and Victoria.

The Clan however face the Spartans this weekend, who earlier this week
forfeited three victories from the first half of the season against Lethbridge
(Nov. 9, 2007), Thompson Rivers (Nov. 17) and Fraser Valley (Dec. 1) in games
in which Goltz played. Now counting each of those three games as 2-0 losses,
TWU sits at 3-17 on the season, mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.
The Spartans have also physically lost four straight games, including an
overtime loss last weekend against the Thunderbirds in heartbreaking fashion.

Last weekend Simon Fraser split their series against the Victoria Vikes. While
Friday night the Vikes handled the Clan easily 79-64, Simon Fraser battled
back on Saturday in spectacular fashion. Trailing by 12 points in the fourth
quarter, SFU battled back to tie the game in the final minute. With just seven
seconds left on the clock, Sean Burke (North Vancouver, B.C.) deftly dribbled
coast-to-coast before stopping for a pull up three-pointer with just one
second left. Burke was fouled on the shot, and after a technical was called on
Victoria’s bench. Burke nailed all five free throws, and the Clan defeated the
Vikes 71-66, ending Victoria’s ten-game winning streak over Simon Fraser.

The Clan and Spartans last met on February 10, 2007, with SFU winning 68-66
behind Aaron Christensen’s 23-point performance. The Spartans last defeated
SFU on February 2, 2007, by a final score of 80-77.

Friday’s game at Trinity Western is scheduled for 8pm. Saturday’s game at home
(5pm) will air live on the Clan Radio Network, available exclusively online at
http://athletics.sfu.ca/broadcast.