Horns show resiliency in sweep of U of A

By Lethbridge Herald on January 14, 2025.

Herald Photo by Justin Seward University of Lethbridge Herald photo by JUSTIN SEWARD University of Lethbridge Pronghorns Angelo Mbituyimana attempts to find the loose ball ahead of the University of Alberta’s Isaac Simon during Canada West action at U of L over the weekend.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s basketball team put on a strong display of resiliency on the court after sweeping the University of Alberta Golden Bears at home over the weekend.

The Horns used a game-winning buzzer beater from Karter Fry to edge the Bears 83-80 on Friday night and rode the momentum of 44 total points between Angelo Mbituyimana and Kymani Pollard in an 81-73 victory on Saturday night.

“I liked how resilient we were,” said Kenny Otieno, Horns head coach.

Otieno thought the games were all about the ups and downs.

“That kind of tests character and situations where some teams can fold and some teams can  continue to push through adversity,” said Otieno.

“We’ve been talking about that since the break, (with) just being able to stay resilient and stay positive in situations where it’s good or bad and (I) think our guys did a good job of that this weekend.”

Otieno learned about the trust of the team.

“The trust that they have for each other right now is at a high level,” said Otieno.

“We’ve been in some tight games and we’ve been able to pull through just by guys stepping up and being able to just handle pressure in those situations and trust each other.”

Otieno expected the games to be tight with the Bears.

“We did expect it to be a dog fight in terms of they were physical as well and we were trying to match or exceed their physicality and I think we did a decent job of that,” said Otieno.

U of L (7-3) now head on the road for two straight weekends beginning at MacEwan University for this weekend.

As for the U of L women’s team, they were swept by the Bears and dropped their record to 4-6 on the season after an 81-49 loss on Friday was followed by an 75-51 loss on Saturday.

Kodiaks

The Lethbridge Kodiak men’s basketball team swept Red Deer Polytechnic on home court over the weekend after winning 92-91 and 79-71 on Friday and Saturday respectively.

The Kodiak volleyball teams open up their second semester in Red Deer over the weekend.

The men’s team split their games after a three- set loss on Friday was followed by a five-set win on Saturday.

The Kodiak women lost both of their games in Red Deer.