Sports November 6, 2002 Royals struggle in first half, fall to UNBC Men’s Basketball Jordan Cripps Sports Editor UNBC 82 Douglas 71. The Royals season got off to a disappointing start on Friday, November 1, as they fell to the UNBC Thunderbirds. The loss was more disappoint- ing because of the Royals successful pre-season schedule, which saw them win almost every game. Before the game, Coach Munro said that he felt this first weekend of BCCAA basketball would tell a lot about his team, and where they might fit into the standings. Before the game, and certainly after, he acknowledged that the UNBC squad might be the strongest in the league. The Royals got off to a promising start as lan Hogan scored the first basket of the game off a ‘nice feed from Taylor Cherris- Wilding. From there, though, the story of first half would be the dominating play of the Timberwolves at both ends of the court. After the open- ing basket, the Timberwolves went on an extended run, outscoring the Royals 16-4 early in the half. After the Royals broke up the run, UNBC presented the Royals with another offensive surge, extending the lead to 21-8. By the end of the first half, the Timberwolves had 2 play- ers in double figures while the Royals were led by Hogan's 8 points. This was certainly not how the Royals wanted to start the season as they trailed at halftime by 25 points, 48-23. Munro felt that part of the team’s struggles in the first half were due to his team’s 1/11 shooting from behind the 3-point line. He felt that this took a lot out of them in terms of emotion and once they fell behind, all of the team’s energy was spent trying to get back on pace with the Timberwolves. In the second half, the Royals tried to mount a come- back and erase the large deficit. Where 3-point shooting was a problem for the Royals early, it was the weapon that allowed them to get back into the game. The Royals Royals Struggle Jordan Cripps Sports Editor The BCCAA Women’s Basketball regular season didn’t get off to the start that the Royals were looking for. The Women’s team struggled mightily through the first half, recording only nine points. UNBC stormed out of the gate, registering the first 18 points of the game before Douglas managed to mount any sort of attack, getting three quick points. In the first half, Douglas scored just four field goals, and couldn't do anything to counter the offensive and defensive pressure of the Timberwolves who seemed to be everywhere the Royals wanted to be, only a few steps faster. Whenever the Royals did have a chance to build offense, the oppor- tunities were frequently missed as passes and shots went astray. Not much went right for the Royals in the first half as the players didn’t all seem to be on the same page, colliding with each other and throwing passes to where they thought their team mate was going, only to have it end up in the hands of a UNBC player. Whatever coach Ed Lunn said at half time must have helped, as the Royals came out much more focused and determined to begin the second half, eliminating some of the mistakes that cost them earlier. Indeed, it was the © page 22 began the half with a 9-2 run, capped off by a long three pointer by John Orimaco. They managed to narrow the lead to 11 early in the half. Because they were in the lead, UNBC never went on any extended runs where they carried the play for a long period of time. Instead, they responded to whatever the Royals did. If the Royals managed to cut into the deficit, the Timberwolves would make sure that the Royals werent able to build too much momentum by respond- ing with a basket or two of their own. Eventually, though, the Royals did begin to get to the Timberwolves, led by the speed and long distance shoot- ing of John Orimaco who found his shot after going scoreless in the first half. With Orimaco and Ian Hogan back on the floor, the Timberwolves lead began to disap- pear. The Royals, who cut the lead to three after another Orimaco three-pointer, controlled the middle part of the half, reducing the margin to 62-59. From there, though, the Timberwolves recovered their composure and, led by some stellar offensive perform- ances, pushed the lead up to 68-59 with just over four minutes remaining in the game. At this point, the situation became a bit more desper- ate for the Royals who frantically tried to close the gap to little avail. They couldn't get much closer than six points down the stretch, as the Timberwolves responded to every Royals basket with at least one of their own. In the final minutes of the game, with both teams in the penalty situation, it appeared that Douglas may be able to get back some of the points with the clock stopped. However, They were unable to convert a num- ber of their free-throws, going just 2/5 down the stretch. On the other hand, when Douglas began fouling in order to stop the clock, the Timberwolves made the most of their free throw opportunities, going 4/7 at the end of the in Season Opener }UNBC 62 | Douglas 38] Royals that scored the first basket of the second half, and they managed to pick away at the lead a bit. Certainly the gap was too big to overcome but they were able to make the score a bit closer. UNBC seemed to lose their concentration a bit, and the coach of the Timberwolves, upon realizing this, called a timeout to ensure that her team would not squander the big lead they had built. This seemed to work as the Timberwolves reapplied defensive and offensive pressure to ensure that Douglas couldn't get back in the game. In the second half, the Royals actually outscored the Timberwolves by a 29-26 margin, led by the strong inside play of Stephanie Hibbert and the long distance shooting of Claire Askew. At times, it seemed as though UNBC had decided at half time to give the Royals a break, and take the rest of the night off. Really, though, it was more likely that they were using the Royals to prac- tice things they might not ordinarily do during the sea- son. Whenever the Royals began to creep a bit too close for comfort, UNBC put the end to the challenge, by stepping up their defensive play, which the Royals simply couldn’t overcome. the other pres game. This made the difference and the Royals we unable to overcome this, falling 82-71. After the game, Munro admitted that because he “is competitive person” the loss bothered him, but felt th his team had learned some valuable lessons that could applied in future games. He again paid tribute to Timberwolves, calling them “an experienced team” a one of the top teams in the league. Obviously, he wou have preferred his team learn the lesson while still ea ing a win, but Munro remains positive that the Roya will, in the long run, be able to benefit from the expe ence they had against UNBC. The game was never really close, even though Royals did make a concerted effort to reduce the gap. came to a fairly uneventful conclusion as Timberwolves left New Westminster with a 62-38 vict ry. Hopefully, the Royals can take some of their expe ences from this game and improve their performang over the coming weeks as they begin to develop mo cohesiveness and progress towards becoming a md competitive team in the BCCAA standings. TOT wes