Saturday afternoon marked SFU’s final home game, and consequently, the final annual Senior’s Night — the last game in the West Gym for seniors who have used up all four years of NCAA eligibility.
Perhaps it was fitting then, in a lacklustre 84–64 loss against the Central Washington Wildcats, that the game belonged to the youth of the team, a sort of passing of the torch.
Andrew Williamson, who is credited as a redshirt-sophomore on the official roster, but was redshirted last year and appears to actually be in his freshman season, led the team in minutes played with 37. He also lead the team in points with 15, tying his career high. Redshirt-freshman Bowen Bakken had a career-high eight points and made two three-pointers, a first for him. Despite playing through a reported injury, redshirt-sophomore JJ Pankratz put up 13 points, good for second-best on the team.
And if we’re talking youth movement, that’s not even mentioning freshman Oshea Gairey, who, in his first eligible year, is already a dominant force in the Great Northwest Conference (GNAC), though on Saturday it was his first time in six games not hitting double digits in points, and his lowest field goal count (two) since January 14.
With only one senior, and even only one junior on the team with Max Barkeley’s departure, that’s the way it has to be.
“Now we can trust those guys. Before we didn’t know who to put in, but now we know we can go with these guys. We’re getting to the point where I’m comfortable putting any one of those guys in the game,” said Head Coach Virgil Hill. “That’s a good sign in terms of the future, in terms of our depth.
“If we can get better internally and augment that with external talent, it’s going to be fine — it takes time, it isn’t going to get built in one season.”
But the man of the night, the passer of the torch was SFU’s sole senior Michael Harper, having transferred to SFU before last season, playing two seasons with the Div I University of Hawaii. With the departures of key seniors Sango Niang and Justin Cole after last season, he’s seen his role increase — going from averaging 20.7 minutes a game (which would have been the third-lowest minutes on the team in tonight’s game) to averaging 33.1 minutes per game and regularly playing more than 35.
“He was Mr. Do Everything,” said Hill. “I mean, he’s the guy we could rely on to do everything — he had to defend the best guys, he had to hit shots, he had to post up, he had to be a leader, so there’s not one thing we didn’t ask of Michael, and that’s a hard thing. [. . .] He’s always in a situation where he’s generally matched up against someone who is probably more athletic than he is, but he’s a smart player and he’s strong.
“He’s going to be a tough guy to replace and that’s a huge hole for us to fill next year.”
Before the game, Harper, and his father Mark who came in from Australia, were honoured with a framed jersey, in lieu of the traditional flowers, because Hill remarked Harper’s father didn’t “look like a flower guy.”
Harper admitted he was nervous going into the game, his last in the West Gym, saying, “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t dwell on my mind before the game.
“I’ve definitely built a home here — it’s going to be strange leaving. It’s a tough time playing my last home game here.”
Harper played 35 minutes, one of only two players to play more than 30 on Saturday, and had 11 points, good for third in team scoring.
The game started out good for the Clan, opening the scoring and holding a consistent lead for much of the first half, with Harper putting the team up 30–27 with a layup with 3:40 to go in the first. It had appeared that SFU would have a chance for the first home conference win of the season.
However, Central Washington put up nine consecutive points to end the half, while SFU didn’t muster one — not even one free throw — leading them to go down 36–30 at the end of the half.
“That’s what good teams, and that’s what mature teams do, they’re relentless, they don’t give up, and they don’t throw away possessions. And when the game gets tighter, they can elevate their game,” said Hill. “As a young team, you have to have a strong will, and that’s a strong willed team — they just keep going and going, they don’t relent, where sometimes we just kind of pass it and, ‘Oh well, it’s a turnover.’ You have to value the ball at all times.”
The second half did not provide any relief. SFU remained competitive for much of the half, but could not make up any points for a sustained period of time. A six point lead slowly grew to a 20 point lead for Central Washington.
“I’ve definitely built a home here — it’s going to be strange leaving.”
SFU notably only had one more turnover than Central Washington, with 18, but, notably, 15 of those came in the second half.
“It was a tough game, it was a winnable game. Our offence was a bit stagnant, but that’s been the story all season in the second half,” said Harper.
“We had some chances, didn’t knock down a couple of shots, but the effort was there.”
Perhaps the most notable absence of the game was Cedric Chen: without his taunts, Central Washington had an easy time on the free throw line — making 26 out of 29 attempts and only missing for the first time when the score was 71–56 with 4:56 left in the game. Student athletes in attendance tried to fill Cedric’s shoes, but it was no match. Interestingly, the Wildcats only missed once the crowd had gone pretty much silent — perhaps stunned by the abnormal quiet treatment.
For Harper, these games, which without playoff chances might otherwise be lacking in meaning, he sees a team that is growing, getting better.
“[We] just need to keep doing the things we need to do to get better, we’re out of the playoffs, but it doesn’t mean we don’t want to win, don’t want to go out on a high note. [We’ve got to] bring the effort,” he said.
“We’ve gotten tougher. I feel like plays are getting more confident, which is the main thing, confidence, especially in a young team like this, just to get things going, finish off the season with some confidence leading into next season.”
