The bad news is the UNBC men's basketball team lost both its weekend games and will now have a tremendous uphill struggle to try to qualify for playoffs. But to make matters even worse, veteran point guard Billy Cheng went down with an injury - one that will likely end his season and therefore his university basketball career.
Cheng, a fifth-year player and the Timberwolves' backcourt leader, was hurt in the first quarter of a Saturday setback to the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades.
In the game, played in Abbotsford, UNBC went on to lose 62-47.
"He messed his knee up pretty good," said UNBC head coach Todd Jordan.
"We haven't had it imaged yet but I think more than likely he has probably torn some ligaments. We're waiting to get final word but I think it's going to be unlikely he plays again this season."
Cheng was examined by Davis Rodrigues of Accelerated Sport and Spine Physiotherapy on Monday. UNBC athletics director Loralyn Murdoch said she's hopeful Cheng will see a doctor today.
Before Cheng's injury, he had scored UNBC's first eight points in the game. On the play where he was hurt, he slid to cut off a UFV ball-handler.
"It was a good defensive play but he just stepped and planted," Jordan said. "I don't think he stepped on anyone's foot or anything. It was just one of those things where he stepped at the right angle and pushed off and something just went. That's how major knee injuries tend to happen."
Cheng is second on the UNBC roster with an average of 11.2 points per game and leads the team in assists with an average of 3.3 per contest.
"(The injury) is really unfortunate," Jordan said. "He's obviously in his fifth year and having a pretty good season for us. It's tough but I guess we'll just have to move forward."
Jordan acknowledged that replacing Cheng will be impossible.
"No one is going to step in and do the things that he does so we have to have guys play within their skill sets," he said. "We'll have to get it done in a different way."
The Cascades also beat the Timberwolves on Friday night, 63-56 in comeback fashion. In that contest, UNBC led 46-36 going into the fourth quarter but the Cascades started those final 10 minutes on a 16-4 run to erase the deficit. The Timberwolves, meanwhile, hit just two field goals in the fourth quarter and none in the final 5:24 of play.
With the winless weekend, the Timberwolves have now gone 0-4 to open the 2016 portion of their Canada West Universities Athletic Association schedule. Overall, they have dropped their past five games and now sit with a 3-9 record, which has them in last place in the six-team Explorer Division. After a 20-game regular season, the top three teams will make the playoffs.
The weekend was a much better one for the UNBC women's basketball team. The female Timberwolves earned their second win of the season on Friday when they downed the Cascades 63-47. In the victory, Maria Mongomo (18 points), Prince George's Hannah Pudlas (11 points) and Vasiliki Louka (11 points) all scored in double digits. Pudlas, a second-year guard, also hauled in 14 rebounds to record a double-double.
The Cascades bounced back with an 83-56 win on Saturday.
With the results, the T-wolves now sit at 2-10, a mark that has them fifth of six teams in the Explorer Division. UFV is in fourth place at 7-5.
The UNBC teams host the UBC Okanagan Heat this coming weekend. Games are scheduled for Friday (6 p.m. women, 8 p.m. men) and Saturday (5 p.m. and 7 p.m.) at the Northern Sport Centre.
The UBC-O men are fifth in the Explorer Division with a mark of 5-7, while the Heat women are third at 8-3.
