Marquavian Stephens made a lay-up to put Saskatchewan up one with six seconds to play, and Nervens Demosthene and Tyrese Potoma made free throws to ice the game as the No. 8 Huskies stunned the top seed Brock Badgers 77-73 Friday in the quarter-finals of the U Sports men’s basketball championship.
Stephens, a native of Flint, Mich., led all Saskatchewan scorers with 19 points. Terrebonne, Que.’s Demosthene added 14 points in the win, while Potoma of Regina’s only two points in the contest came at the free-throw line.
Star Badgers swingman Tajinder Lall of Cambridge, Ont., led all scorers with 26 points and Markham, Ont.’s Kascius Small-Martin added 23 in defeat.
The Badgers were largely undone by a sluggish opening quarter that saw them get outscored 22-9 and make just two field goals.
The Huskies also beat up Brock on the glass, outrebounding the Badgers 42-35, while grabbing 14 offensive boards.
Saskatchewan is moving onto the semi-finals of the tournament Saturday and face Queen’s after the fifth-seeded Gaels downed No. 4 Dalhousie 90-80.
Cole Syllas had 18 points, six rebounds and seven assists for Queen’s while Keevan Veinot scored a game-high 21 points for Dalhousie.
Tyus Jefferson scored 31 points to power the No. 3 ranked Alberta Golden Bears to an 85-68 victory over the No. 6 McGill Redbirds. That propelled Alberta to its first national semi-final berth since 2014.
Jamal Mayali also had 31 points for McGill.
No. 2 Victoria was slated to face No. 7 Carleton in later action.
Brock will play in a consolation game Saturday.