CIS Hoops.ca

Jumping out to a 24-5 lead before the game was less than 5 minutes old, Canada West Final Four participant from last season Saskatchewan Huskies defeated Lakeland College of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Association (ACAA) 104-67 on Saturday afternoon in Lloydminster, Alberta. 6'8" Andrew Spagrud had game-highs of 24 points and 12 rebounds for Saskatchewan, while 6'2" Rejean Chabot added 22 points, four steals and four assists. After the Rustlers brought the game back to within 10 at 57-47 by halftime, Saskatchewan opened the third quarter on a 27-8 run to put the game away for good. The Huskies, who meet the Rustlers again on Thursday, October 4th at a neutral site in Saskatchewan, played without fifth-year senior guard Kyle Grant (knee) and junior guard Mark Thompson (hip). Here is the Full Game Report courtesy of Huskiehoops.com plus the Box Score

Also, in one of probably numerous omissions and debatable ratings appearing and likely to further appear on this site, it was pointed out by a reader that St. Mary's will also be returning 6'0" fifth-year captain and point guard Mark Ross, who was an underrated stalward in the Huskies run to the CIS Final Four last season. Ross played every minute of every game in the AUS tournament and the CIS Nationals before fouling out late in the semi-final loss to Concordia and ran the Huskies to near-perfection, handling the ball the majority of the time and setting the table for Mark McLaughlin, Clint Bateman, Ike Uchegbu and company. As the reader pointed out, Ross was #7 in assists and was # 2 in minutes played in the country last season. Ross was also deservedly awarded SMU's "Unsung Hero" award for qualities of leadership and heart after last season. Mark Ross is definitely another reason why St. Mary's has one of the top teams in Canada going into this season.