Skip to content

Spartans lose close one to Bisons

Trinity Western men's basketball team falls to 2-6 after dropping pair of games at Langley Events Centre
12430langleyMBTWUMarkPerrinvsWinnipeg8x10
Trinity Western Spartans’ Mark Perrin soars for the dunk during his team’s game against the Winnipeg Wesmen on Nov. 23 at the Langley Events Centre. The Spartans lost the game 78-56 as well as 81-80 to the Manitoba Bisons the next night.

In a tightly-fought battle from tip-off to the final buzzer, the Manitoba Bisons edged the Trinity Western men's basketball team late, pulling out an 81-80 victory at the Langley Events Centre on Saturday night.

Coupled with a 78-56 loss the night before to the Winnipeg Wesmen, the Spartans fell to 2-6 on the season.

The Spartans led 79-76 but the Bisons closed the game on a 5-1 run to end the game.

"It's unfortunate because the guys worked hard," said Spartans coach Scott Allen.

"We gave the ball away a bunch of times and we didn't execute down the stretch.

"I thought it was a better effort: they're trying to learn how to fight, but just at the end, it didn't come together for us.

"Sometimes, that's the way it goes."

Denny McDonald and Mark Perrin led the home team with 21 points apiece while Kurtis Osborne had 14. Perrin also had a game-high nine rebounds and four steals while McDonald added six rebounds.

Trinity Western led by seven points, 40-33, at the half, but the Bisons reclaimed the lead in the third quarter thanks to a 29-21 advantage which set up the back-and-forth fourth quarter.

In Friday's game, the Wesmen used strong first and fourth quarters in their 20-point victory. In those two quarters, Winnipeg outscored Trinity Western 47-18, compared to the middle 20 minutes where the Spartans were ahead 38-29.

Trinity Western was actually up 11-6 in the opening frame before the Wesmen closed the quarter on a 20-0 run and never looked back.

Perrin and McDonald led the offence with 17 and 14 points, respectively, while Tyler Lintell came off the bench to chip in with a dozen points.