Men's Hoops Stays Undefeated In MCAC, Men's Volleyball Sweeps Les Rouges

WBB Results:
Jan. 24 vs Universite de Saint-Boniface Win 78-31
Jan. 27 vs Canadian Mennonite University Lose 63-72
Jan. 28 vs Canadian Mennonite University Lose 63-78

Quotable:
Joel Coursey
“It was a busy week for us. We were at USB on Tuesday after getting back from a tough trip to Trinity Bible College. The second semester seems to always be packed with games and fly by quickly. We have been challenged with some of our toughest regular season competition this semester and it hasn’t been smooth sailing. After beating USB, we played a back to back with CMU. We struggled shooting the ball in both games but we were in a 3 point game with only 2 minutes remaining on Friday night and couldn’t close it out.

Saturday we started terribly but we put up 43 points in the second half to get us within 11, but the hole we dug ourselves into in the first half, was too deep to climb out of. We made lots of unforced mistakes in both games but especially the first half of Saturdays contest, and we know that if we clean up our game and shoot the ball better, we can compete for a banner.”

Up Next:
The Pilots conclude the regular season with a pair of games against USB, first on the road before coming back home on Saturday to celebrate senior night.

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MBB Results:
Jan. 24 vs Universite de Saint-Boniface Win 85-79
Jan. 27 vs Canadian Mennonite University Win 75-68
Jan. 28 vs Canadian Mennonite University Win 88-70

Quotable:
Pierre Dubreuil
“We had a challenging 3 game week. The first game against USB saw them playing strong and physically, throwing us off guard. Nevertheless, our team stayed in control, not letting Les Rouges take the best out of us. Another strong performance inside from Riley Paul (24 pts - 15 rbs) and Nate Ens (14 pts - 8 rbs), supported by the 13 pts of Senior Guard Josh Armstrong, gave us the win. 

Our first home game of 2023 against CMU was very contested, going into the break with only a 1-point lead (36-35). Both teams played some very strong defence leading to an interesting 4th quarter. Some great stops down the stretch and a key shot from downtown by Freshman Rhys Maestre to beat the shot clock gave us a sufficient room to breathe, with seconds left on the clock. Special mention to first-year Point Guard Ilijah Roque for bringing 12 assists that night, helping to secure the first seed in the MCAC and a direct trip to the Finals. 

We approached our last game of the regular season against CMU much better than the night before. Shooting the ball well (45% FG throughout the game) and dominating inside, we pulled up a strong lead in the 4th quarter. Led by first-year Center from France Emmanuel Oleko (27 pts - 17 rbs - 4 assists) and senior Small Forward Josh Armstrong (23 pts - 5 assists - 3 steals), we took an 18-points lead to win. We are now turning our attention to our last 2 games of the season against USB, before heading to the MCAC Championship Sunday.”

Up Next:
The Pilots enter the final week of regular season action in hopes of a perfect MCAC regular season.
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WVB Results:
Jan. 27 vs Universite de Saint-Boniface Lose 0-3 (20-25, 23-25, 18-25)
Jan. 28 vs Universite de Saint-Boniface Lose 1-3 (17-25, 25-23, 14-25, 21-25)

Quotable:
Kyle Guenther
"In a weekend double header with the top ranked St. Boniface team, we had a great opportunity to test ourselves and potentially gain some ground in the standings. We also had the chance to compete in the gym where our MCAC Championships are held. Unfortunately, we didn't bring our best on the first night and made too many errors to keep the match close. Our offensive plan didn't pan out the way we had envisioned and St. Boniface was solid all night. The second match was tighter as we made a few adjustments with our lineup and ultimately took a step forward but again were in tough not converting the chances when we had them. We definitely will take some positives out of this weekend and can be encouraged with how we passed in that gym. We will just need to have a better game plan on offense for the next time we play them." 

Up Next:
The Pilots will meet the Blazers in Niverville on Friday night, in their lone game of the weekend.

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MVB Results:
Jan. 27 vs Universite de Saint-Boniface Win 3-0 (25-23, 29-27, 25-17)
Jan. 28 vs Universite de Saint-Boniface Win 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-22)

Quotable:
Cody Quiring
“The squad has been forced to adapt to a number of variations among the lineup over the last few weeks due to illness and injury and this weekend was a testament to the group battling hard and laying out all the effort even when specific systematic options weren’t clicking at full steam. I am proud of how the group responded for 2 big games on the road, in a bumpin’ atmosphere. To come away with a clean 6-0 sweep over the course of two matches against the talented & scrappy opponent we battled is big for the guys. Plays were made by all the guys this weekend as we saw some incredible backcourt work by Hector Ortiz who grabbed 28 digs over the course of the 6 sets and Noah Boschman continued his impressive first year campaign by averaging 6.33 points per set over the weekend. We now shift our focus to the next one and our lone match next weekend at home.” 

Up Next:
With only 4 regular season games remaining, the Pilots will meet the league leading CMU Blazers with standings in mind.

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