A poor early start proved to be too much for the Quest Kermodes men's basketball team to overcome.
The Kermodes took on their archrival the Capilano University Blues in North Vancouver on Friday (Nov. 23) and dropped a 75-73 decision. Even worse than the loss was the fact that the injuries seem to be mounting on the team.
"We struggled early again and Jesse Norris was keeping us in the game until he went down with an ankle injury," said men's head coach Sean Shook. "We also lost Denzel Laguerta at the four-minute mark of the fourth quarter to a broken hand."
Jose Colorado led the way for the Kermodes with 18 points on seven-of-13 shooting. Justin Tryon had a team -high eight rebounds, while guard Josh Beasley contributed with five assists and two steals.
Shook said the game was similar to when the two teams met earlier this month.
"We pressed them and recovered from a 15-point deficit to take a four-point lead with 20 seconds to go," he said. "Sam Zhang hit two free throws to cut it to a two-point lead and with 17 seconds to go we missed two free throws. Cap came down and Zhang hit a three to put them up one. Jose couldn't get a shot off and we had to foul and they hit the first and missed the second with 1.1 seconds left."
Quest only scored 27 points in the first half and shot an ugly 26 per cent, but they turned it on the second half, shooting 55 per cent from the field.
"It's a tough loss that we needed to get on the road," Shook said. "We are limping into this last weekend of league play with a ton of banged-up guys, but we're going to have to find a way to fight through some pain."
It was a similar story for the women's team, as they stumbled in the first half and found themselves down 50-19 after 20 minutes of play. The Blues eventually pulled out the 83-52 win, the worst loss of the season for Quest.
"We didn't handle their full-court man-to-man pressure at all," said women's head coach Dany Charlery.
The Kermodes shot a paltry 28 per cent in the first half and 31 per cent for the game and had 25 turnovers compared to Capilano's 14. Cassidy Osterling led the way with 15 points and Caci Schlecter had a team-high nine rebounds in the loss.
Both teams now have a record of four wins and two losses and are in third place in their respective divisions. The teams will hit the road again, with games against Douglas on Friday (Nov. 30) and Langara on Saturday (Dec. 1).
For more information on the teams, visit www.questkermodes.ca or follow them on Twitter - @questkermodes.
