The Doug Lange Network 

February 27, 2019 

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BURNABY, BC – In a game that featured 18 lead changes and 8 tie scores, it was bound to come down to a one possession game, and Simon Fraser University used a couple of late 3-pointers to seal its 76-73 victory over Western Washington University in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game in West Gym.

 

WWU led by as many as 9 points midway through the second half, and had a 3-point lead at 68-65 at the 2:27 mark following a 3-pointer by senior guard Tyler Payne. The Clan then hit back-to-back 3-pointers, with Othniel Spence’s fadeaway chance at the 1:18 mark giving SFU the lead for good. The Vikings climbed to within one point following five consecutive points by Payne, and had a chance to tie the game when WWU leading scorer Trevor Jasinsky missed a layup with 10 seconds remaining. Payne’s last-second 3-pointer to tie the game rimmed out giving SFU the three-point victory.

 

WWU had its two-game winning streak snapped, playing for the third time in six days after returning Sunday from its road trip to Alaska. The Vikings are now 14-14 overall and in a tie for 7th place in the GNAC standings at 8-10. Simon Fraser won for the sixth time in the last seven games to improve to 15-11 overall and 9-9 in conference play, fifth place in the standings.

 

Payne (Long Beach, CA/Cerritos College) scored all of his career-high 20 points in the second half, including scoring the Vikings last 11 points. He was 6-for-13 from the field, and 4-for-7 from long distance, and also contributed a game-high 4 assists. 

 

Junior forward KJ Bosco (Portland, OR/Portland CC) also totaled a career-high with 15 points, scoring all but one of his points in the first half. Bosco was 5-for-7 from the field, had 4 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. 

 

Jasinsky was held to 12 points on 3-for-9 shooting and was 6-for-6 from the free throw line. He grabbed a team-high 7 assist while playing 37 minutes.

 

SFU sophomore guard Jasdeep Singh scored a career-high 31 points on 12-for-18 shooting and 4-for-6 from 3-point range. Singh scored 17 second-half points, including 10 over the last six minutes of the game. Singh led four SFU players in double-figure scoring, with Wilfried Balata (13 points), Michael Provenzano (12 points) and Othniel Spence (11 points) contributing 10 or more points. SFU played without leading scorer Julian Roche (14.2 points/game, 6.9 rebounds/game) after he sprained an ankle in SFU’s overtime victory at Alaska Anchorage on Saturday.

 

THE RUN THAT MATTERED

The Vikings built a 9-point lead at 52-43 with 11:02 remaining in the game. SFU chipped away at the deficit going on an 8-2 run to trail by three points at 54-51 and then used another 8-2 run to pull ahead 61-60 at the 5:13 mark. SFU finished the game on an 11-5 run to secure the three-point victory.

 

FIRST HALF BATTLE

The Vikings and Clan battled through eight lead changes in the first half, with the Clan holding a 36-34 lead after the first 20 minutes of action. SFU got off to a hot start scoring the first seven points of the game, and led 9-2 before the Vikings went on a 7-0 run to tie the contest 9-9. WWU took its first lead at 17-16 at the 11:06 mark, the first of the eight lead changes. SFU built its lead back up to 6 points at 27-21, with the Vikings answering again with a 7-2 run. KJ Bosco equaled his career-high for a game in the first half with 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting, as the Vikings were overall at 40.7% (11-for-27) for the half. Jasdeep Singh led SFU with 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting, and was 2-for-3 from beyond the arc.

 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

The Vikings shot 44.7% (21-for-47) and were 7-for-23 from 3-point range (30.4%)…SFU held a 32-30 advantage in rebounds and out-scored the Vikings 32-26 in the paint…WWU scored 22 points off turnovers and received 27 points from the bench…SFU led for 20:48, WWU led for 15:27 (all in the second half) and the game was tied for 3:45…the game featured 18 lead changes and 8 tie scores…WWU was 24-for-28 from the free throw line…Trevor Jasinsky has scored in double-digits in 26 of 28 games this season…Tyler Payne’s previous career high was 18 points set vs. Minnesota State Moorhead on Nov. 16, 2018 in West Gym as Part of the SFU Showdown…the Vikings completed a grueling 4-game road trip to Montana, Alaska and Canada over a 10-day span with a 2-2 record.

 

MAKEUP GAME

Tuesday’s game was a makeup game from the Feb. 12 contest that was postponed due to snow/weather between Bellingham and Burnaby.

 

UP NEXT

The Vikings (14-14, 8-10 GNAC) conclude the 2018-19 regular season this weekend returning to Carver Gym to host Western Oregon on Thursday (Feb. 28) and Concordia on Saturday (March 2), with both games tipping off at 7 pm on WECU Court. 

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-- @WWUHoops --