Men's Basketball
February 6, 2012
Eagles Victorious in Must-Win Weekend
METRO VANCOUVER, BC – (February 6, 2012) – As the PACWEST Basketball season enters the home stretch, both Kwantlen Polytechnic University Men’s and Women’s Eagles teams found themselves in must-win situations in the qualification race for Provincial Championships and capitalizing on that motivation to a string of victories.
The Eagles Men’s team followed the Women’s lead with a set of wins over the weekend. In an intense game against Douglas College, the Eagles defeated their rivals 80 – 63 with help from the second quarter where the Eagles out-shot the Royals 31 points to eleven. First-year guard, Aaron Ram (Surrey), led the Eagles in points with 21 followed by first-year forward, Gurpal Mann (Surrey), with 16 points and going 6 for 8 (75%) from the free-throw line. First-year guard, and new recruit, Anmoel Dhillon (Surrey), also added to the tally with 15 points. Veteran forward, Varinder Singh (Delta) topped the Eagles’ list in rebounds with six while first-year point guard, Chris Arcangel (Toronto, ON) led with 7 assists. “The game was very intense on Friday. Rival games are what makes college basketball exciting. I was proud of our players for using their emotions in a positive way. When we played CBC, Ali played very well. He was very aggressive and it was good to see because he is a captain and the heart and soul of our team,” stated Head Coach Stefon Wilson.
For the first time all season, the Men’s Eagles hit triple digits in total points with their 102 – 81 victory over the Columbia Bible College Bearcats on Saturday, February 4th. Ali Bosir (Surrey), third-year center, led the Eagles on the stats list capturing 29 points and 9 rebounds. Forward Varinder Singh (Delta) followed closely with 25 points and guard Aaron Ram (Surrey) racked up 19 points in the high scoring match.
After Week 8, both the Eagles Women and Men have taken sole possession of 6th place in the PACWEST standings. The Eagles will host the Langara College Falcons on Thursday, February 9th heading into the final two games of the regular season with tip-off for the Women at 6:00pm and for the Men at 8:00pm.
Complete game results can be found at: www.kwantlen.ca/eagles
January 30, 2012
Eagles Men Win Back-to-Back Home Games
METRO VANCOUVER, BC – (January 30, 2012) – The Kwantlen Eagles Men and Women played host for the second straight weekend to their rivals from north of the Burrard Inlet playing Quest University on Friday, January 27th and Capilano University on Saturday, January 28th.
In a weekend filled with anxiety, the Eagles Men needed two wins in order to stay in contention for a play-off berth and in two hotly contested games, which is exactly what the Eagles did. On Friday, the Eagles led in points thru three quarters only conceding total point allocation to the Quest Kermodes in the fourth but it still was not enough for the Spirit Bears as the Eagles soared to a 82 – 76 victory. Leading the team, third-year center Ali Bosir (Surrey) tallied 19 points and 6 rebounds followed closely by third-year forward, Varinder Singh (Delta) with 18 points. Rounding out the team with double digits were first-year guard Aaron Ram (Surrey) with 12 points and second-year guard Mark Mitchell (Toronto, ON) with 11 points. First-year guard, Tanaad Insaniye’s (Surrey) three-pointer in the final second of the third quarter gave the Eagles momentum going into the final ten minutes and combined with first-year point guard Chris Arcangel (Toronto, ON) hitting five of six free throws in the dying seconds of the game helped clinch the win.
On Saturday, the Eagles continued their tight playing leading in points throughout most of the game faltering only in the third quarter with a total of seven points collected against the Capilano University Blues. Despite fouling out in the final minutes of the game, first year point guard Chris Arcangel (Toronto, ON) racked up 18 points to share the high scoring with teammate and first-year guard Aaron Ram (Surrey) also with 18 points. First-year forward, Tristan Gruenthaler (Abbotsford) led the team with 8 rebounds and 7 assists. The fourth quarter was jam packed with high intensity and anxiety with the Eagles trailing slightly as third-year center, Ali Bosir (Surrey) sank a three-pointer followed by second-year guard Mark Mitchell (Toronto, ON) hitting two clutch free throws in the final minutes of the game to pull ahead and steal the win with a 71 - 69 score. Reminiscing on the weekend, Head Coach Stefon Wilson commented, “This weekend was very important for us. We knew that we would have two hard battles both Friday and Saturday. I am very proud of my players for stepping up to the challenge. We played with a lot of energy on defense and made some big shots on offense.”
After Week 7 action, the Eagles Men remain in 7th place but still in contention for claiming a play-off spot. The Eagles look forward to continuing to improve their records this weekend hosting Douglas College on Friday, February 3rd (tip-offs: Women @ 6:00pm and Men @ 8:00pm) and then travelling to Columbia Bible College on Saturday, February 4th.
Complete game results can be found at: www.kwantlen.ca/eagles
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