The SFU Clan men’s basketball team got its first win of the season Tuesday night against the Douglas College Royals with a score of 78–58. Though a 20-point gap between the two squads might make some think that SFU dominated this game, nothing could be further from the truth, as the Royals made the Clan work for every point, and a wide margin of victory was not secured until late in the game.

“It was a battle in the first half, and then we came back [and] showed some resilience,” said Clan guard Hidde Vos after the game. “It’s good to get the first [win] of the season.”

It was a tale of two halves, as the Clan started the match playing down to their opponent’s level. Douglas College took an early lead, and were able to frustrate Simon Fraser all throughout the first half. SFU’s Michael Harper had some excellent runs at the Douglas defense, cutting through them like a hot knife through butter. However, SFU’s defense was unable to shut down the Royals offense, as it seemed like they were able to sink three-pointers at will. Along with that, the Royals were winning most of the rebounds in SFU’s zone, and getting easy points off layups as a result.

The Clan started playing a bit better in the middle of the frame, and went on a 10–0 run to take a 25–19 lead with nine minutes left, due to some timely points and steals from guard/forward Denver Sparks-Guest. However, SFU was unable to pull away, and the plucky Douglas side fought back with some timely three-pointers, retaking the lead with two seconds left on the clock.

The halftime score was 37–35 for the visitors, and SFU’s Head Coach Virgil Hill was visibly displeased going into the halftime break.

Hill must have given quite an impressive speech during the intermission, as the Clan came out in the second guns blazing. Douglas College fought tooth and nail to keep their lead, but they were no match for the firepower that SFU brought. Specifically, it was the incredible play of guard Hidde Vos that propelled them. Beginning early in the second half, Hidde had timely steals, smooth three pointers that hit nothing but net, and some sick no-look passes that would have compelled even Steve Nash to tip his hat.

But it was not only Vos that shone for the Clan in the final frame. Oshea Gairey helped draw multiple fouls, and on the defensive end Gibran Sewani and Max Barkeley shut down multiple Douglas attacks with rejections that made the crowd go wild. It seemed like a totally different SFU side was on the court, and the scoreboard was showing it. After being down 44–40 early in the second half, the Clan went on a 25–0 run to take a 65–44 lead.

The final stages depended on SFU not letting Douglas claw its way back as they did in the first half, and this time, the Clan was successful. SFU ran the Royals ragged in the second half, and it was clear the visitors from New Westminster had no gas left in the tank at the end of the game. SFU held on for a 78–58 blowout, and they’ll certainly be hoping for more wins like these in the future.

Wrestling is a sport unlike any other, and one that it requires intense commitment from competitors. It requires years of training and focus to compete at a high level. This makes the case of sophomore Abby Lloyd all the more interesting. A native of Powell River, BC, Lloyd’s background is in judo, and she only began wrestling when she came to SFU.

“I started judo when I was about six years old,” Lloyd said. “I competed internationally for quite a while, and leading up to graduation I had to consider post-secondary, which there wasn’t a lot of options in regards to judo. [. . .] So I turned to wrestling, where Mike Jones [Head Wrestling Coach] recruited me, and I saw an opportunity in that.”

There are some similarities between judo and wrestling, but for the most part, Lloyd had to learn the sport from scratch. “There’s a lot of overlap in regards to takedowns and throws. But there were a lot of habits that I had to break in regards to being put on my back. Because judo fighters can be on their backs and defending at the same time. [In] wrestling, you can’t.

“What I really like about wrestling is that you can grab the leg,” she said. “Whereas in judo in 2010 they started incorporating rules where you couldn’t grab the legs. [. . .] In wrestling there’s more freedom for me to use my technique and [less worry] about being disqualified for something that’s against the rules.”

Lloyd has had some help from numerous people in SFU wrestling to make her a more well-rounded wrestler. “My coaches and my teammates” were the first people she mentioned. “[My teammates are] not ones that because they are [competing] in the same weight class, they’re going to keep all these secrets from you. They’re ones that actually want to see you get better and they want you to improve. If they see you doing something wrong, they’re going to correct you on it.

“In regard to coaches, Mike Jones is one of those guys that’s not going to tell you that you’re doing it perfectly, because he doesn’t want to boost your ego that much. He’s going to tell you that you did it better, and then he’s going to tell you how you can improve on it.”

One thing unique to the sport of wrestling is the weight class system. To compete in a certain weight class, Abby has to be at the weight or under it. For this season, she is fluctuating between the 109 lbs and 116 lbs weight class, which means lots of bulking and then cutting down.

“It’s not really healthy, but a lot of it will be water weight,” she said. “I know some of the guys they can probably lose 20 pounds of water weight. So what I do is, probably two to three weeks before prior to [the] competition, if you’re making a big cut, you want to focus on just cleaning up your diet. Making sure you don’t have any added sugar, no unneeded carbs, [and] try not to eat late at night.

“Leading up the week before you, start reducing water intake. Basically we just throw on the [compression] suit and get sweating. You want to cut water weight as much as you can before the competition.”

Abby explains the difference between the two weight classes. “The 109 [weight class] will definitely be focused more on speed, and the 116 more on strength. I myself am very compact, so a lot of the girls are going to be taller than me. [. . .] The strength and the height are the big differences.”

Between gaining and losing weight, Abby still has to study for her classes, a balance she found difficult to maintain in her freshman year.

“It was really, really hard,” she said. “I had no idea what I was doing. I came from a really small town, and in high school, I had such a close connection with my teachers [and] they were very lenient with me, [because] they knew my travel schedule.

“At SFU they understand the situation of varsity athletes, but you have to understand the responsibility is on you to get your assignments done and have things ahead of time if you’re going to be away. Whereas [in high school], I just relied on my teachers to get me out of things. But my first semester was a nightmare. My grades weren’t the best, but as I started to learn the ropes, I recognized that there has to be a balance academics and sports.”

The season is still in the beginning stages, but Abby has some concrete goals heading further into the season.

“My personal goal is to just really focus on my leg shots right now. Because I’m starting to develop an understanding of what my setups need to be in order to make those leg shots, as opposed to just tying up and going for the throw in judo. My goal is just to keep up with that, keep improving, and then hopefully it’s going to lead to some good results.”