Kwantlen men’s hoop team loses two close ones

The Northwest Indian College Eagles received a huge effort from Josh Nelson and Randy Evans as they beat the Kwantlen Eagles Men’s basketball team 92-86 Friday night at the Surrey campus of Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

The Northwest Eagles took the lead midway through the first quarter and established a 10-point lead at halftime, a lead they would never surrender. Nelson led the way for the Eagles with 22 points and 14 rebounds.

The Northwest Eagles, from Washington State, came out and played hard and fast in the games’ first quarter and established their presence on defence, a suffocating Eagles defence that led to Kwantlen committing 24 turnovers in the game.

“This is the first time I’ve seen them,” Kwantlen head coach Bernie Love said at half time. “They’re coming out hard and aggressive and I think they are dictating the pace of the game. They’re hitting more shots in our gym then we are.”

Kwantlen came out in the second half and dominated early going on an 8-0 run in the middle of the third quarter to tie the game up at 54.

Kwantlen was led by a monster performance by Mark Dabrowski, who finished the game with 29 points and 12 rebounds in just under 32 minutes of action. Kwantlen, which was missing four starters for this game, leaned heavily on Dabrowski even though he was nursing a knee injury for most of the game.

“He really shouldn’t be playing right now, he is nursing a bit of a bum knee,” Coach Love said. “He’s a big difference maker, though, and he stepped in there and was a big presence for us.”

Though Kwantlen was down four starters, the team stepped up and competed in a game where many of their players were first-year players.

“You’re going to take your lumps when you have nine first-year players, but we battled today and we competed which we need to do on a more consistent basis,” Love said.

Kwantlen continued its exhibition season on Saturday against Portland Bible College and lost another close game, 79-75.