Spartans Cruise to Easy Win Against Laurentian

Top Performers:

Lau – Isiah Pasquale 28 points

TWU – Calvin Westbrook 22 points

 

White Rock, B.C. – With the regular season just a week away the Trinity Western Spartans exhibition game against Laurentian couldn’t have gone smoother.

 

TWU scored just five seconds into the game and easily defeated the Voyageurs 90-76 at White Rock Christian Elementary School. The game was won on the boards as Trinity out rebounded Laurentian, especially in the offensive glass.

 

After a sloppy start to the game, TWU was able to get their legs going and began using their speed to create chances on the break. The Voyageurs tried to counter with their big guns, the Pasquale brothers, but were unable to match the Spartans team speed.

 

Trying to match the tempo set by Trinity, the Voyageurs drew a bevy of fouls and, despite 43 points from Manny and Isiah Pasquale, they trailed the Spartans 45-36 by half time.

 

Laurentian Coach, Shawn Swords preached defensive responsibility.

 

“We definitely need to pick up our defensive intensity. We brought it at the start of the game and then they continued it from there. We kind of got shocked by their defensive intensity. Giving up 45 points at the half is way too much.”

 

On the other side, Spartans’ coach Scott Allen said, “I think we have a lot of mismatches so we have to try to utilize those guys and keep working on the transition game.”

 

Despite a plea to his team to tighten up defensively inside, the Voyageurs still came out flat in the third quarter and as they overcompensated for inside penetration by Trinity they began giving up outside looks and three point chances from the Spartans’ shooters. Specifically, Cal Westbrook off the bench, who nailed four three-pointers in the third quarter.

 

Going into this season the Voyageurs have mentioned a need for an inside presence and thought they had found it in Mike Hull and Shavaan Sheldon but neither seemed to matter against TWU.

 

Spartans’ forwards Jacob Doerksen and Kyle Coston dominated the paint against Laurentian but eventually fouled out of the game for their work.

 

Another positive for the Spartans was a full-game effort where they never let up despite leading by more than nine points for most of the second half.

 

“We’re looking for way more from our team right now and a little bit more of a killer instinct this year. We’d like to take a 15 point lead and put it up to 25 rather than the other way,” said Allen.

 

The Spartans will travel to Lethbridge next week for a two game battle with the Pronghorns to officially begin their season.

 

Meanwhile, Laurentian has two more games on their B.C. trip including a game Friday against UBC and Saturday against UFV.