Heading into the final two-game series of the regular season, the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men's basketball team is still in the hunt for second place in the Division and a home playoff date, but they will have to win their final two games versus the Calgary Dinos and get some help from the Alberta Golden Bears to do so.
The home-and-home series tips off Wednesday night in Lethbridge at the 1st Choice Savings Centre, with the back half of the series going Thursday night in Calgary. Start time for both nights is scheduled for 8 p.m. and both games will be streamed live on Canada West TV.
Entering the final week of the conference schedule, the Pronghorns trail the University of Saskatchewan Huskies by one game for second place and the Huskies will travel to Edmonton this upcoming weekend to face the CIS fourth ranked University of Alberta Golden Bears. With the Huskies holding the tiebreaker against the Horns, the U of L will have to win second place outright and see the Bears beat the Huskies both nights.
With their two-game sweep of the Bobcats last weekend in Brandon, the Horns (14-6) earned the program's most wins in a season since the 1999-2000 season, when the program went 18-2. For Calgary (6-14), being eliminated from post-season contention two weeks ago, they will look to play spoiler this weekend versus their southern Alberta rival.
The Dinos snapped a nine-game losing streak last Friday night in Regina, beating the Cougars 77-66 before losing the next night 92-81.
The Horns remain among the conference leaders in multiple offensive categories this season. The team is ranked second offensively, averaging 83.8 points per game, while leading Canada West in free throw percentage (76.5%) and assists per game (18.4). They are also second in three-point field goal percentage (36.4%).
However, the Horns rank 15th of 16 Canada West teams defensively, allowing 82.1 points per game, but lead the conference in defensive rebounds with 30 per night.
For the Dinos, they enter the final games of the season with the sixth ranked offensive unit (76.2 ppg) in the conference and scored above their season average both games last weekend. At the other end of the floor, the Dinos sport the 13th ranked defence, allowing 80.6 points against.
Pronghorns' fifth-year seniors Logan Reiter, Morgan Duce, Alex Fletcher, Dallon Martin and Spencer Wenzel will all play their final conference game on home court Wednesday night.
Reiter moved up another spot on the conference scoring list after last weekend and sits sixth with 17.6 points per game, while Brandon Brine is second in team scoring with 15.9 points per game. Both Duce and Fletcher are averaging double digits in points per game with 12.4 and 12.2 respectively. Fletcher is also averaging 4.5 assist per game.
Dino guard Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson leads the Dinos and the conference in scoring with 20.4 points per game. He also leads the conference in free throw percentage (89.4%) and minutes played per game (36). Josh Turner and Philip Barndt are both averaging double digit point totals per game at 12.9 and 11.2 respectively.
Should the Horns finish second and host one of the Canada West quarter-finals, the schedule for the best-of-three series would be as follows:
Best-of-three Quarterfinal – Feb. 21-23
Game 1: Friday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, Feb. 22, 7 p.m.
Game 3: Sunday, Feb. 23, 4 p.m. (if necessary)