Huskies pounce on Wolfpack, advance to Canada West quarterfinals

A strong defensive effort propelled the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s basketball team to a 71-58 victory over the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on the opening weekend of Canada West playoffs at the PAC Friday.

The Huskies managed to hold Thompson Rivers to under 20 points in all four quarters, while also limiting the WolfPack to 32.8 per cent shooting from the floor as a team.

“That was a good playoff win. If you’re not going to be solid at the defensive end in the playoffs you’re going to have difficulty so that was a good win for us,” said Huskies head coach Barry Rawlyk in a university media release.

“I give full credit to all of our assistant coaches, they came up with a really good game plan and to all of our players for executing it.”

The Huskies also hampered the Wolfpack’s second-chance opportunities, nabbing 56 rebounds compared to the visitors’ 32, including a 20-6 advantage in offensive boards.

“I thought we did what we had to do to try and keep the game close but at the end of the day they made more plays than we did and they beat us on the glass,” WolfPack head coach Scott Clark said in a media release. “That’s a credit to them, they played hard and their effort was great but I’m proud of what my guys did and their effort as well. At the end of the day if you give up 20 second-chance points that’s just too many.”

Friday’s win was the fourth consecutive playoff victory on home court.

The Huskies will face the third-ranked University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in Edmonton on Feb. 21 for a single-game elimination quarterfinal matchup.

Alexander Dewar led the Huskies offence with 18 points. Emmanuel Akintunde scored 14 points and hauled in 11 boards for the double-double. J.T. Robinson added 11 points and six assists.

Fifth-year guard Micheal Rouault scored 21 points and added seven rebounds and four assists for Thompson Rivers.