Trojans win ugly over Lightning
CALGARY, (Jan. 31, 2019) — It wasn't pretty, but the SAIT Trojans men's basketball team found a way to pull out the victory.
For the second-straight week, the Trojans have started their weekend series with a poor-shooting effort. Last week, it cost them their first loss, but Thursday night, they were able to do enough to earn a 76-61 victory over the visiting St. Mary's University Lightning.
"I don't know what's been going on lately, but we have not been playing up to our potential," said Trojans guard, Charlie Conner (2nd year, Lacey, Wash., Business Administration). "That starts in practice, so we have to start figuring this out because this is the time to tighten things up, not get sluggish."
SAIT, who fell to No. 4 in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) rankings following their loss to Olds College last week, improve to 15-1 on the season. St. Mary's falls to 5-12.
"As much as we try not to, we look at the standings and know where teams are," Conner added. "I think we've been too concerned with the playoffs, and not on the games in front of us. That's going to change from here on out, though."
Thursday's game saw the Lightning get out to a great start thanks to the shooting of Joshua Matosevic. He scored 11 points in the first 10 minutes of play to put the visitors up 20-16 going into the second quarter.
The Lightning extended their lead to seven seconds into the second quarter, and that's when SAIT came alive, going on a 10-2 run to lead 26-25 just over three minutes in.
The Trojans never gave back the lead.
A four-point lead at halftime turned into an eight-point lead after three quarters. With 1:33 in the game, SAIT held their biggest lead – 76-58.
Conner finished the game with about as good a well-rounded effort as one can give, recording 19 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Teammate John Smith (4th year, Lacey, Wash., Business Administration) added a game-high 20 points.
Matosevic led the Lightning with 19 points and eight rebounds.
The Trojans and Lightning will finish their weekend set on Saturday night at Glenmore Christian Academy at 8pm.