Lucas Mannes and the Calgary Dinos had last weekend off.
This weekend is a homecoming for the Chilliwack native and GW Graham grad, who leads his team into battle against the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades.
Mannes and the Dinos are unbeaten at 16-0, hold down first place in the Canada West standings and are ranked No. 3 nationally as they try to defend the U-Sports title they won in 2017-18.
UFV is a solid 11-5, tied for fifth in the Canada West standings with a playoff spot clinched.
In his fifth and final year of eligibility, Mannes is averaging 9.7 points per game while shooting 33.3 per cent from three point land.
“They’re a veteran group that knows how to play together,” UFV coach Adam Friesen said of the Dinos. “All the experience that group of players has accumulated over the years, they’ve seen everything.
“They’re the top team in Canada West, and we know that they’re talented and that it’s going to be incredibly hard to pull off a victory. But we also know it’s a great time to be playing a team like Calgary, with playoffs just around the corner. We’re going to give it our best shot, and it’s only going to make us better at the end of the day.”
The teams tip off Friday (8 p.m.) and Saturday (7 p.m.) at the Envision Athletic Centre.
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It was a tough weekend for Tyus De Vries and the Thompson Rivers University Wolf Pack as they dropped a pair of games to the Regina Cougars.
Regina took an 84-77 win Friday.
De Vries, a second guard guard out of Sardis secondary, played 31 minutes and produced 11 points, four rebounds, one assist and three steals.
De Vries played 27 minutes in the Saturday night rematch, an 84-77 defeat.
He recorded 13 points, five rebounds and three assists for TRU, which fell to 6-10 overall, good for 14th place in the 17 team Canada West standings.
The Wolf Pack wrap up their season this weekend with a pair of home games against the University of Manitoba Bisons (7-9, 10th in Canada West).
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Those same Bisons handed Kyle Helsloot’s Trinity Western Spartans a pair of losses last weekend.
Manitoba beat TWU 101-60 and 92-62, keeping the Spartans winless at 0-16 with two regular season games remaining.
Helsloot, a GW Graham grad, saw 11 minutes off the bench in Friday’s game, sinking a pair of free throw and adding one assist.
He played 14 minutes in the Saturday rematch, tallying four points with an assist.
His Spartans finish up with road games this Friday and Saturday at the University of Lethbridge (9-7, seventh in Canada West).
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In women’s basketball action, Josi Debruyn’s UBC-Okanagan Heat won their first game of the 2018-19 season last weekend, but the Sardis secondary school grad wasn’t involved in Friday’s 60-51 home court victory over the Grant MacEwan Griffins.
She was back in action Saturday, logging two minutes in a 60-55 loss to those same Griffins.
DeBruyn pulled down one rebound and drew a personal foul call.
The Heat are 1-17 and last place in the 17 team Canada West standings.