On Saturday night, three SFU seniors — guards Sango Niang, Justin Cole, and Daniel Deflorimonte — played their last game in the West Gym. While the tribute before the game was moving, the send off — a 112–84 loss against the Central Washington (CWU) Wildcats — was probably not the one the Clan seniors were looking for.
“I think the emotions of Senior’s Night, and the emotions of the last home game effected us,” said head coach James Blake. “I’ve gone through quite a few last games of the year with seniors, and it’s always hard to gauge how people are going to react to the night [. . .] They kind of got caught up in it and forgot what our game plan is.”
Though SFU did not score first, they actually jumped out to the early lead — peaking at 18–14. Deflorimonte — the only one of the seniors to play his entire collegiate career at SFU — opened the scoring for the Clan. Fittingly, much of the early scoring belonged to the seniors, with the first 12 points scored by SFU coming from the three outgoing seniors.
Despite the early lead, the Wildcats quickly clawed their way back, taking the lead — and ran with it. Though the early first half was close, in the last eight minutes of the first — when before Central Washington was up only one point — the Clan only scored 15 points while the Wildcats put up 32 points.
Even much of the second half was close, but the gap created by the late first half run proved too much for the Clan. Wildcat center Jason Stroud’s defensive play proved to be a real thorn in the Clan’s side, with four blocks — three more than anybody else in the game, while teammate Dom Williams achieved a double-double with 27 points and 10 assists.
A below-average night on the three point line did not help things, as the Clan only shot seven threes, down from their conference leading average, 12.6 per game.
While the final result was far from what any Clan fan would describe as a good game many of the individual results were solid. All three seniors had great nights with Cole leading the team in scoring for the second night in a row with 23 points, while Deflorimonte — who averages 5.9 points per game, and only has hit double digits five times this season — notched 13 points.
In the end, the night will be remembered by most, not for the forgettable final result, but for being the final chance to see Niang, Cole, and Deflorimonte live playing in a Clan jersey — barring an alumni game appearance. Coach Blake had nothing but praise for the three outgoing seniors.
“All three of them are just great kids. They just want to help the team get better,” he said. “I’m pretty sure if we had more of those types of guys that we’d be better overall as a team.”
“It was very emotional knowing it was my last [game at home],” explained Cole, who transferred to SFU from Chaffey Community College with Niang two seasons ago. “We have three more away games coming up, but it ain’t nothing like playing at home in front of your family and friends.”
SFU
Points: 84
Field Goals: 33–74 (44.6%)
3 Pointers: 7–21 (33.3%)
Free Throws: 11–12 (91.7%)
CWU
Points: 112
Field Goals: 47–84 (56.0%)
3 Pointers: 9–26 (34.6%)
Free Throws: 9–13 (69.2%)
Player of the Game: Justin Cole
Realistically the Player of the Game award could go to any of the seniors, but Justin Cole was not only the scoring leader with 23 points, but also one of the clear drivers when it looked like SFU could still make a comeback. There might not have been a comeback, but you can’t blame Cole for that with 14 points in the second half alone.
Points: 23
Assists: 1
Rebounds (Off-Def): 2–6
