News Archives: Men's Basketball Split Against the Eagles
Sunday, January 15th, 2017
GPRC Wolves Men’s Basketball travelled to Edmonton this weekend where they split against the Kings University Eagles.
Friday’s game saw inconsistent play at times giving the Eagles the upper hand early in the game, leading to a narrow 78 – 75 loss. With 22 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 4th year guard, Kenny Johnson lead the team in most statistical categories, and was therefore named the Wolves Player of the Game. An impressive performance by Edmonton import, Yasser Abdullahi who scored 19 points in his GPRC Wolves debut, was a highlight of the game. Coach Thomas Slifka commented that the team had “a few defensive breakdowns in the first half that allowed the Eagles to get out to a good lead. In the second half they hit some backbreaking shots that really hurt our comeback efforts”.
In contrast to Friday night where the men made play more difficult than it had to be, the team was far more engaged defensively, and offensively played very simple. This change in strategy lead to a 97-69 win, with the highlight of the game being Chance Velichka’s 23 points, 7-9 from the 3-point line. Velichka came off the bench to record a career high of 23 points, and take home the Wolves Player of the Game recognition. Other notable performances came from rookie forward and GPRC Wolves Athlete of the Week, Kellen Morris with 14 points, and Kenny Johnson with 18 points, 13 assists and 7 rebounds. Again, Yasser Abdullahi had an impressive performance scoring 18 points for the Wolves. Commenting on the win, Coach Slifka said that “Today we just played much more simple. Instead of trying to do everything, we simply tried to engage multiple defenders and make the simple pass. It allowed us to get some open looks and we were able to capitalize.”
The Wolves face the NAIT Ooks, ranked 5th in the nation, on home turf Friday February 20th at 8:00pm, and Saturday February 21st at 3:00pm. All games can be watched live on acactv.ca.
