The SFU Clan Men’s Basketball team was defeated 90–67 by Western Oregon Thursday night to fall to 1–12 on the season and 0–7 in GNAC Conference play. Western Oregon is now 6–1 in Conference Play and 13–2 on the season.
The first half looked very promising for the Clan with the team building an early 28–20 lead after Junior Guard Hidde Vos scored five consecutive points. This is when Western Oregon stalwart Andy Avgi began to take control of the game. Avgi was named the GNAC player of the week last week, averaging 29 points per game. The Senior Forward hit a fadeaway jumper and was fouled for the ‘and-one’ to tip the momentum in Western Oregon’s favour.
Clan Senior Guard Michael Harper drove down the lane for a basket and then scored on an ‘and-one’ in the closing minutes of the first half as the two teams traded blows in an intense stretch of action. With less than 10 seconds left in the half, Sophomore Guard JJ Pankratz drove to the basket and sunk a lefty layup to pull SFU within one. Unfortunately, Western Oregon sunk a buzzer beater to take a 42–39 lead into the half.
“I call him a silent assassin” – Head Coach Virgil Hill on Point Guard Andrew Williamson
The second half was all Western Oregon. Avgi took the game over in the opening minutes of the half scoring on jump shots, fade aways, drives to the basket, running the fastbreak, and setting up teammates for easy buckets. In the first 12 minutes of the second half, Western Oregon ripped off a 36 to 10 run that made the final eight minutes essentially garbage time.
Michael Harper led the Clan with 17 points and Point Guard Andrew Williamson scored 15 points in the first start of his SFU career. Coach Virgil Hill explained that the decision to start Williamson for the injured Max Barkeley was only made that morning. Hill stated how Williamson “had a great week of practice. I call him a silent assassin. Quiet guy [. . .] who plays with a sense of confidence and poise.”
Coach Hill also commented on the game and the team’s upcoming matchup. “Unfortunately the game is forty minutes and it’s a tale of two halves. We’ve come across this again and again, where we will be in a [close] game at the half [. . .] and then the first five minutes we just can’t seem to summon that next gear that the other teams do” he lamented.
Hill also discussed the challenge of defending a player like Andy Avgi. “We said we were going to pick our poison and not double team him. We let him get twos instead of [allowing open] threes.”
On the prospects for a victory this Saturday against Concordia University, Hill explained how it is “a very winnable game [. . .] we have been bullseyeing for the last week or so.”
