The University of the Fraser Valley men’s basketball team cruised to a 79-65 victory over the UBC Okanagan Heat on Saturday evening, clinching a playoff berth in the process.
Kevon Parchment, with a game-high 19 points, and Jasper Moedt, with a huge double-double (17 points, 15 rebounds), led the way as the Cascades improved to 14-0 and officially ensured they’ll taste Canada West post-season action again this spring.
Head coach Adam Friesen’s squad is also closing in on clinching first place in the Explorer Division – they own a six-game lead on the Thompson Rivers WolfPack (8-6) with six games remaining for both teams, and can lock it up next weekend if they’re able to win at least one of their road games vs. the Mount Royal Cougars.
UBC Okanagan, who got a career-high 18 points from Buzz Truss and 15 from Mitch Goodwin, saw their record dip to 2-12. They host the Thompson Rivers next weekend.
“We played a good 40 minutes, and we played a lot better than yesterday,” Parchment said afterward, alluding to his team’s 73-66 win over UBC-O on Friday. “We were moving the ball around and really listened to the game plan.”
That game plan, according to Friesen, emphasized doing a better job on the boards. The Cascades boast a distinct height advantage on the Heat, but they had only managed a 42-41 edge in the rebounding department on Friday. They dominated that category on Saturday, out-boarding the Heat 45-30.
“The pregame talk was about performing better on the boards,” Friesen said. “We thought we had an advantage there, and we didn’t really take advantage of it yesterday. Today we did that.”
The Cascades came out scorching from long range – Parchment, Dominique Brooks, Manny Dulay and Vijay Dhillon each knocked down three-pointers in the first five minutes of the first quarter, powering the Cascades to an early 13-4 lead.
They stretched the margin as high as 18 points in the second quarter, and took a 47-31 lead into halftime.
The Heat carved a 22-point third-quarter deficit down to nine points after Mitch Goodwin’s three-pointer with 7:59 left in regulation, but the Cascades responded with a quick 9-0 spurt, highlighted by a pair of Moedt buckets in the paint, to restore order.
Brooks and Dhillon notched 11 points apiece for UFV, while Nate Brown finished one point shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 boards.
It was the Cascades’ 28th straight victory in Canada West regular season play, a streak which dates back to November 2013.
“It’s unbelievable, to tell you the truth,” Parchment said. “Basically, our coach preaches identity – we just try to bring it every night, be as consistent as we can. We’ve got a lot of guys who can put the ball in the basket, and we try to do it collectively.