Clan win big at home

Sango Niang’s previous career-high night was, unfortunately, a losing effort for the Clan. This time, however, the guard’s effort was not in vain, as Niang set a new career-best with 36 points in SFU’s 112–99 win over Central Washington.

The Clan’s win snapped a three-game losing streak, avenging a 96–79 loss earlier in the season. A surprisingly tight, dominant first period for the Clan gave way to a nail biter of a second.

Although the Wildcats won first tip off, the Clan scored the first five points, including a three-pointer by forward Ibrahim Appiah. CWU responded quickly scoring 14 straight points in just over three minutes. Sloppy defence and poorly timed fouls contributed to the Wildcats’ offensive burst.

That pressure would not last, however, as senior David Gebru got the momentum back for SFU with a layup at 14:13, after a well-timed steal by Taylor Dunn. The clan clawed their way back up the scoreboard with guard Sango Niang making the court his playground.

The Clan reclaimed the lead midway through the first — pushing the score to 19–18 — but did not truly explode offensively until after Niang scored his second three-pointer of the night. With the score 29–27 for the Clan, SFU just kept draining three-pointers until they led by 19, 58–39, to end the half. With all due credit to the offence, the defence also got tighter by the minute only allowing 12 more points from the Wildcats over the final 7:37 of the period.

Niang notched 22 points in the first period alone, nearly reaching his previous career high for a game (26 points) set only two games ago in a close loss to Seattle Pacific University.

Although the Clan opened the second period’s scoring, their defence lapsed at times, allowing the Wildcats to get within six with just three minutes to play. But SFU got going again just in time, and nailed their late-game free throws.

Justin Cole, who scored 16 points and two three-pointers, ended the game with a slam dunk on a steal from Niang in the last half-second, taking the score to 112–99 and keeping the Wildcats out of triple digits.

It was a decisive way to end a stretch of three losses where it seemed the Clan were getting better but with no real results. In this game, there were results: SFU notched a team-high in points and have now tied their previous NCAA best in conference wins with three. And three games still remain for the Clan to beat that record.