UNews - Canada West

Horns hit the road for basketball playoffs

trevor.kenney — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 22:33:18 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s basketball team returns to the playoffs this weekend under first-year head coach Mike Hansen. The club heads out on the road to face the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Fraser Valley Cascades, ironically the team the Horns faced the last time they were in the playoffs, two seasons ago.

The best-of-three quarter-final series begins in Abbotsford, B.C. Thursday night, with game two Friday night and an if necessary game three on Saturday night. The start time for all three games is 8 p.m. (MST) and all three games will be streamed live on Canada West TV.

After the Horns finished the season with a 15-7 record, the most wins for the program since the 1999-2000 season, the program has drawn the hottest team in the conference in UFV. The Cascades have won 14 straight conference games, last losing November 23 in Saskatoon versus the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Saskatchewan Huskies. The Cascades were also 10-1 at home this season with their only loss coming against the Mount Royal Cougars.

In their only match-up this season, the Cascades beat the Horns 79-69 during the first weekend of the conference schedule in Abbotsford. Two years ago in the playoffs, the Horns lost the third and deciding game of their opening round series on a buzzer beating three pointer.

The series will be one of two contrasting styles, offence versus defence. The Horns finished the regular season with the top ranked offence in Canada West, while the Cascades bring the second ranked defensive team to the series.

The Pronghorns averaged 84.3 points per game to lead the conference and rank sixth in the country. They also lead the conference in free throw percentage (75.2%) and assists (17.8). On the other side of the ball, the Horns were the 15th ranked defensive team in Canada West, allowing 83.3 points per game during the conference schedule.

With a quartet of players finishing with double-digits in points, the conference’s most potent offence was propelled by a balanced attack. Fifth-year guard Logan Reiter finished fifth in the conference to lead the ‘Horns in scoring, averaging 17.6 points per game. Brandon Brine was 9th in Canada West with 16.2 points, while Alex Fletcher and Morgan Duce rounded out the group averaging 12.7 and 12.2 points per game respectively.

Fraser Valley is at the polar opposite of the Horns in style of play. The Cascades allowed only 66.1 points per game, which ranks them second in the conference and fourth in the CIS. They led the conference in field goal defence percentage, holding their opponents to only 36.9% from the floor. At the offensive end, the Cascades were ranked 12th in Canada West, scoring 72.3 points per contest.

The Cascades do have a foursome averaging double digits per game in points, with Kevon Parchment leading the team with 17.2 points per game. Jasper Moedt sits second on the team with 14.4 points per game but also finished second in the conference in rebounding, averaging 9.1 rebounds per game.

The winner of the series will advance to the Canada West final four, hosted by the highest ranked remaining team.

Horns relieve Gatto from coaching duties

trevor.kenney — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 23:29:32 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorn Athletics has relieved Greg Gatto (BASc '00, BEd '00) from his duties as head coach of the Pronghorns men's hockey program.

Gatto spent nine seasons at the helm of the men’s hockey team, compiling a record of 80-143-20. His teams qualified for the playoffs on three occasions, but never advanced beyond the first round of the post-season. Gatto's best season came during the 2006-07 campaign when the Pronghorns finished second in the Mountain Division with a 14-9-5 record but lost in the first round of playoff to the UBC Thunderbirds.

Gatto also played five seasons with the Pronghorns and was a member of the program’s lone Canada West and CIAU Championship team during the 1993-94 season.

“Greg has spent 14 years as a member of Pronghorn Athletics and has committed a great deal to the hockey program and had some great success along the way,” says Pronghorn Athletics Executive Director Sandy Slavin. “But we felt that we needed to move the program in a new direction.

“We would like to thank Greg for his commitment and hard work over those 14 years and wish him well in the future.”

Pronghorn Athletics will begin the search for a new head coach immediately.

Pronghorns seeking second place

trevor.kenney — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 22:56:50 +0000

Heading into the final two-game series of the regular season, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns men's basketball team is still in the hunt for second place in the Division and a home playoff date, but they will have to win their final two games versus the Calgary Dinos and get some help from the Alberta Golden Bears to do so.

The home-and-home series tips off Wednesday night in Lethbridge at the 1st Choice Savings Centre, with the back half of the series going Thursday night in Calgary. Start time for both nights is scheduled for 8 p.m. and both games will be streamed live on Canada West TV.

Entering the final week of the conference schedule, the Pronghorns trail the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Saskatchewan Huskies by one game for second place and the Huskies will travel to Edmonton this upcoming weekend to face the CIS fourth ranked ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta Golden Bears. With the Huskies holding the tiebreaker against the Horns, the U of L will have to win second place outright and see the Bears beat the Huskies both nights.

With their two-game sweep of the Bobcats last weekend in Brandon, the Horns (14-6) earned the program's most wins in a season since the 1999-2000 season, when the program went 18-2. For Calgary (6-14), being eliminated from post-season contention two weeks ago, they will look to play spoiler this weekend versus their southern Alberta rival.

The Dinos snapped a nine-game losing streak last Friday night in Regina, beating the Cougars 77-66 before losing the next night 92-81.

The Horns remain among the conference leaders in multiple offensive categories this season. The team is ranked second offensively, averaging 83.8 points per game, while leading Canada West in free throw percentage (76.5%) and assists per game (18.4). They are also second in three-point field goal percentage (36.4%).

However, the Horns rank 15th of 16 Canada West teams defensively, allowing 82.1 points per game, but lead the conference in defensive rebounds with 30 per night.

For the Dinos, they enter the final games of the season with the sixth ranked offensive unit (76.2 ppg) in the conference and scored above their season average both games last weekend. At the other end of the floor, the Dinos sport the 13th ranked defence, allowing 80.6 points against.

Pronghorns' fifth-year seniors Logan Reiter, Morgan Duce, Alex Fletcher, Dallon Martin and Spencer Wenzel will all play their final conference game on home court Wednesday night.

Reiter moved up another spot on the conference scoring list after last weekend and sits sixth with 17.6 points per game, while Brandon Brine is second in team scoring with 15.9 points per game. Both Duce and Fletcher are averaging double digits in points per game with 12.4 and 12.2 respectively. Fletcher is also averaging 4.5 assist per game.

Dino guard Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson leads the Dinos and the conference in scoring with 20.4 points per game. He also leads the conference in free throw percentage (89.4%) and minutes played per game (36). Josh Turner and Philip Barndt are both averaging double digit point totals per game at 12.9 and 11.2 respectively.

Should the Horns finish second and host one of the Canada West quarter-finals, the schedule for the best-of-three series would be as follows:

Best-of-three Quarterfinal – Feb. 21-23
Game 1: Friday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, Feb. 22, 7 p.m.
Game 3: Sunday, Feb. 23, 4 p.m. (if necessary)

Pronghorn swimmers medal at Canada West

trevor.kenney — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 16:47:11 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns swim team returned home with two medals and two more qualifiers for the CIS Championships (Feb. 20-22, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto) after weekend performances at the Canada West championship meet.

Senior captain Ryan Thornley earned the lone individual medal, winning bronze in the 50-metre butterfly event on Friday night. Thornley was also a member of the Horns' 400-metre freestyle relay team that produced a bronze medal later in the meet.

“We had a good championship with our best point total since the 1990’s and our first relay medal in many years," says Pronghorns head coach Peter Schori. “Both the men’s and women’s teams improved on last year’s scoring and added new CIS qualifiers. Overall I’m pleased with our team's performance and we took another step closer to the top programs in the CIS. I think the men’s free relay will be very competitive at nationals next month.”

Thornley narrowly missed a second individual medal in the 50-metre freestyle, finishing fourth by just two one-hundredths of a second. He was also sixth in the 100-metre freestyle.

The Horns men’s relay finished fourth in the 400m medley relay and fifth in the 800m free relay.

Other notable performances on the men’s side: Nick van der Sloot finished fifth in the 50-metre backstroke and sixth in the 100-metre backstroke; David Errington earned three top six finishes with a fifth place performance in the 50-metre breaststroke and sixth place in both the 100 and 200-metre breaststroke; Tiha Konyves also had two ‘A’ final appearances and finished sixth in both the 50-metre freestyle and backstroke events.

On the women’s side, Keri-Ann Cowan led the way with two top-five finishes. She placed fourth in the 50-metre backstroke and fifth in the 100-metre backstroke. Also making ‘A’ final appearances were Kara DeClark and Kiara Bodell. DeClark finished fifth in the 50-metre backstroke and Bodell was seventh in the 200-metre backstroke.

On the relay side, the women had a strong meet, finishing fourth in both the 800 and 400-metre freestyle relays and sixth in the 400-metre medley relay.

In the team standings, the Horns women’s side moved up one spot from last year’s result and finished fourth in the conference with 294.5 points, while the men finished fifth again this season but improved their point total from 293.5 last season to 310 this year and closed the gap between themselves and the Victoria Vikes.

With a couple more weeks left for other team members to meet the CIS qualifying times, the Horns currently have 11 swimmers qualified for the CIS Championships in Toronto.

Bailey, Reiter earn athlete of the week honours

trevor.kenney — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 17:37:05 +0000

Megan Bailey and Logan Reiter earned recognition as the Subway Pronghorns Athletes of the Week following their strong performances in Canada West action this past weekend.

Despite dropping both games at home this past weekend, Megan Bailey of the Pronghorns women’s hockey team earned the nod as the female athlete of the week.

Friday night, Bailey kick-started a Pronghorn comeback attempt that eventually fell one goal short. She scored once in the second period and then again with just over a minute to play in the third to cut the Manitoba Bison lead to one goal. While the ‘Horns were shut out the next night in a 3-0 loss, Bailey continued to be a consistent threat offensively and recorded three shots on goal.

The Pronghorns men’s basketball team was also swept on the weekend, dropping two close contests to the Winnipeg Wesmen on the road. Fifth-year guard Logan Reiter had a solid weekend for the ‘Horns, combining for 34 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists in the two games.

Reiter scored 17 points in each of the losses, which were by a combined six points, while adding four rebounds and four assists Friday and then two rebounds and three assists Saturday.

Through three weeks of his final season with the Pronghorns, Reiter is second on the ‘Horns in scoring, averaging 14 points per game, which also places him 12th in conference scoring.

UNews - Canada West

Horns hit the road for basketball playoffs

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