Marcus MacKay scored 26 points to propel the UNBC Timberwolves to their fourth-straight victory Saturday night in Abbotsford, a 76-70 win over the Fraser Valley Cascades.
MacKay, a fourth-year shooting guard from Terrace, made two clutch free throws with 47 seconds left and rookie guard Tyrell Laing forced a turnover and sunk a pair of free throws with five seconds left to lock up the win, which moved UNBC (4-4) into an eighth-place tie with Lethbrdge in the Canada West men's basketball standings.
UNBC took a 6-0 lead to start the game and went on an 11-0 run to stretch the margin to 31-17 before Fraser Valley shooter Manny Dulay got hot, closing out the half by scoring eight of his team's nine unanswered points. Fraser Valley (2-4) trailed 37-31 at the half but was unable to close the gap the rest of the game.
Vaggelis Loukas provided 13 points and 14 rebounds for UNBC. James Agyeman had 11 points and seven assists, while Laing, a Duchess Park secondary school graduate, finished with 10 points. Dulay finished with 22 points to lead the Cascades. The T-wolves defeated Fraser Valley 66-63 on Friday.
The UNBC women were not so fortunate. They blew a three-point lead in the fourth quarter and lost to Fraser Valley 75-63 Saturday to drop to 1-5 this season.
Kayli Sartori pumped in 20 points for the Cascades (4-2) and had nine assists, while Taylor Claggett hauled in 12 rebounds. Vasiliki Louka hit a game-high 22 points for the T-wolves, who shot just 35.4 per cent from the floor. Eleni Stereopoulou and Maria Mongomo collected 11 points each for UNBC.
The Timberwolves started the weekend falling 59-55 to Fraser Valley. The Cascades outscored UNBC 22-8 in the fourth quarter to complete the comeback from a 20-point deficit.
Both UNBC teams will close out the 2016 portion of their schedule this weekend at the Northern Sport Centre when they host the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack Friday and Saturday.
