Brent Mutis
CapU Blues sports info
When the dust settled, after a combined seven players fouled out of the game, the Capilano Blues escaped with a 99-94 home win over the Langara Falcons.
The PACWEST foes traded blows from tipoff to the final buzzer, and though the lead changed hands numerous times, neither team was able to build much of a cushion as the game came down to the final few possessions.
Zach Klim's bucket-plus-foul three-point play with 2:15 to go gave Capilano temporary separation at 93-88 but a subsequent string of whistles put Langara shooters at the charity stripe and they evened the score at 93 with 93 seconds to play. Fortunately for the Blues, point guard Peter Li would go to the line repeatedly in the game's final minutes and was nails from the stripe, going 7-of-8 in the final frame and 11-of-12 for the game on his way to a team-high 20 points in 38 minutes of action.
A quick Blues start had them up 17-6 at the five-minute mark as Klim notched 11 first-quarter points with impressive work in the paint. Langara adjusted after a timeout with just over three minutes to go in the first, and got within two heading to the second quarter. Capilano again got ahead by 10 on after a technical foul on Langara's Aaron Ungprasert with Kash Lang and Alfonso Reyes sinking the resulting three free throws but the visitors closed the quarter on a 9-2 run, trailing 50-46 at the break.
Langara took their first lead of the night with three minutes to go in the third quarter, again on free throws, but a Josh Vandevelde and-one with conversion from the stripe restored the Blues edge. Capilano got gasps of air on a three by Zach Hamed and a Sukhraj Garcha layup but the Falcons wouldn't go away. The parade of trips to the free-throw line, combined with each team's effectiveness there, prevented either team from getting a firm hold on things.
Each team scored over 30 points from the free-throw line on the game, with Capilano going 16-for-20 in the fourth quarter alone. Klim, Lang and Reyes fouled out for Capilano while Nixon Owusu, Joaquin Bautista, Ebanehita Obetoh and James Zongo did so for the Falcons.
The teams have a rematch on Saturday at Langara in a 3 p.m. tipoff.
