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UFV Cascades basketball teams eliminated by Winnipeg

Men’s, women’s teams bounced from postseason by Wesmen in Calgary
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UFV’s Maddy Gobeil scored a team high 31 points in the Cascades loss. (Adrian Shellard/MRU Athletics)

The Winnipeg Wesmen spelled the end of the season for the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades men’s and women’s basketball teams last week.

The men locked horns with Winnipeg in Canada West’s round of 16 playoff on Friday (March 4) in Calgary.

The Cascades led by as many as 16 points in the second quarter and were up 10 late in the third, but the Wesmen battled back to earn the 83-79 win.

“Credit to Winnipeg – they hit shots when they needed to,” UFV head coach Joe Enevoldson stated. “Don Dayrit was phenomenal in the second half. He took it upon himself – hit a couple threes early (in the third quarter), and showed why he’s the second-leading scorer in the conference. We settled a little bit offensively – got a little iso-dominant, and that was enough to swing it. They got to the line a lot, and we didn’t. Unfortunately that’s the way the game unfolded.”

Zubair Seyed scored a team-high 16 points for the Cascades, with Dylan Kinley adding 12. The aforementioned Dayrit was the top scorer on Winnipeg and for the game with 23 to go with five steals.

Turnovers were one of the key factors in the game, as UFV committed 25 to 14 from Winnipeg. The Wesmen collected 18 points off those turnovers, with UFV only scoring nine off of Winnipeg errors.

The loss marks the final chapter in the university basketball careers for graduating Cascades Vick Toor and Jordyn Sekhon.

The youthful women’s team ran into a veteran Winnipeg squad in the quarter-finals and couldn’t overcome a 22-11 second quarter, eventually losing 75-69 to the Wesmen in Calgary on Sunday (March 6).

Maddy Gobeil managed to keep the game close and had the Cascades pushing the Wesmen in the second half. The second year guard had a monster game with 31 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. Gobeil shot an impressive six of nine from beyond the arc and 11 of 19 overall from the field.

Julia Tuchscherer was the only other Cascade to reach double figures, as she scored 16 points to go with four rebounds. Winnipeg’s Kyana Giles led the Wesmen with 24 points and Keylyn Filewich added 21 points and 14 rebounds.

Winnipeg did dominate on the glass, outrebounding the Cascades 50-36. Despite the loss, Cascades head coach Al Tuchscherer said the game was good experience for his relatively young team.

“I think the important thing is, our journey doesn’t end here,” he said. “We’re still a work in progress, still a team that’s learning, and these are important games for us to go through. Obviously Winnipeg is an extremely veteran, talented team. They’re going to be difficult for anybody to come out on top against.

They understand the game at a higher level than we do, and tonight they understood who to look to at certain times and how to exploit us. Those are things that come with experience. They’re also big and athletic, and it’s a challenge to keep them off the boards.”

Many of the key players on the women’s team are either first or second year students, meaning they will be back and likely improved for 2022-23. The women did finish with a spectacular 15-3 record in the regular season and earned a division crown for the first time since 2014.

RELATED: UFV Cascades end regular season with loss to UNBC



Ben Lypka

About the Author: Ben Lypka

I joined the Abbotsford News in 2015.
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