Simon Fraser's Izaiah Sherman-Newsome (left) and the rest of the Clan had their hearts broken on Thursday. (SFU file photo by Ron Hole)
Feature University Men's Basketball

SFU Clan men surrender victory in final seven seconds

BURNABY — It’s the seven seconds of game clock that the Simon Fraser Clan men’s basketball team wishes it could just have back.

Please.

The Clan, on the precipice of winning its first Great Northwest Athletic Conference game of the season Thursday, committed two huge gaffes in the final seven seconds of play and were stunned 74-73 by Portland’s visiting Concordia Cavaliers.

SFU had the ball on its own baseline with 6.9 seconds remaining and a 73-70 lead, but after Clan guard Kedar Wright was fed the ball, he was ruled to have stepped out of bounds as he headed back up the court.

The resulting call gave Concordia the ball in its frontcourt, and with 1.8 seconds remaining, Cavs’ guard Latrell Wilson, with SFU’s Hidde Vos guarding him closely, hit a three-pointer to tie the score.

Officials called a foul on Vos, and Wilson stepped up the free throw line and completed the four-point play.
SFU’s JJ Pankratz took a desperation shot from half-court that fell short of the mark as time expired.

“I thought the last two minutes, except for the last seven seconds, we were pretty good at getting stops,” said SFU head coach Steve Hanson, whose team fell to 0-15 with five more games remaining. “I feel for the guys.

“Hidde doesn’t want to leave his feet against a guy who is known to flop a bit,” continued Hanson. “But (Wilson) hit a tough shot and he hit a free throw, so you have to give him credit. With Kedar, I couldn’t really see it from where I was, but I just said to myself ‘What did we do this week to deserve this? Even if Kedar (dribbles  the ball down the court) and we miss, (Concordia) still has to go the full length of the court.”

Scrappy and resilient, the Clan were led throughout by its trio of Wright and Michael Provenzano, each of whom scored 21 points, and Izaiah Sherman-Newsome who added 17.

Concordia (6-9) came out on fire, hitting its first five three-point attempts and at one stage had connected on seven of eight shots from distance en route to building their largest lead of the game at 12 points.

The Clan came back to lead by as many as five down the stretch, it’s biggest basket coming when Provenzano wove his way through the Concordia defence for a lay-in with 27.7 seconds left that put SFU ahead 73-70.

“We weren’t perfect tonight and the way we started was terrible,” said Hanson, “but we dug in and played tough.”

SFU shot 59 per cent from the field in the second half, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. SFU was 7-of-12 from distance but still trailed 39-32 at the break.

Taylor Harris led the Cavs with 19 points while Wilson finished with 14.

The Clan faces Western Oregon on Saturday in its annual West Gym White Out game.

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