To say it’s been a frustrating season for SFU men’s basketball team would be quite the understatement. Sitting at just 1–8 in the GNAC entering Thursday night’s matchup against the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, the Clan had experienced plenty of frustration already, but a 65–64 loss at home was the toughest moment yet.
It was one of SFU’s best games of the season. The Clan shot 49 per cent from the field, and 39 per cent from three-point range, and played well defensively, holding UAA to just 35 per cent shooting from the field and 29 per cent beyond the arc. Four Clan players hit double digit scoring, led by Justin Cole’s 18, and SFU led by as many as 16 points. But with the game on the line in the dying seconds, the Burnaby boys couldn’t pull through.
With the visitors up by one with just under two minutes to go, Cole capped off his scoring with a layup to put his Clan up one, 64–63. SFU almost held the Seawolves off the board over the final 1:44, but UAA would tally a late layup with just four seconds left.
SFU’s Sango Niang’s buzzer beater attempt fell short, just as his team did, for the ninth time this season against GNAC competition.
“We played a really good game. We thought we had the win until the very end and it came down to who wanted it more in those seconds,” said senior forward Ibrahim Appiah, who finished with 11 points.
“It was a tough ball game and it just got away from us.”
With just eight games remaining and a record of 1–9 in the GNAC, the postseason isn’t likely to be in the cards for the Clan (though they are not yet mathematically eliminated), but they aren’t throwing in the towel.
The Clan have come close on a number of occasions, and the heartbreaker of a loss to UAA is just the latest example.
“We have some very good things to take away. We know that we can win games,” said Appiah. It’s just a matter of putting it all together, though it may already be too late.
