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Royals on top heading into holiday hiatus

With a bit of trepidation, the Douglas College Royals closed the first half of the PacWest men’s basketball season on a strong note. By beating the Capilano University Blues 80-59 on Friday, the No.
Reese Morris
Senior forward Reese Morris continues to hold a hot shooting hand for the Douglas Royals men's basketball team, which is top-ranked in the country.

With a bit of trepidation, the Douglas College Royals closed the first half of the PacWest men’s basketball season on a strong note.

By beating the Capilano University Blues 80-59 on Friday, the No. 1-ranked team in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association can spend Christmas revelling in its 7-0 record.

Although another 20-point win – with five of their victories by that margin or more – is a nice boost, the game in fact saw Capilano put the Royals on their heels for parts of the game.

Douglas actually was staring at a 40-38 deficit early in the third quarter, when fifth-year forward Reese Morris went in for a layup to tie it, and was followed by four-year guard Courtney Anderson’s clutch three-pointer. That propelled the Royals back in front, and cued a 17-3 run down the stretch.

Anderson, a native of Palestine, Texas, led all shooters with 26 points, including six rebounds and five steals. Morris counted 24 points and 10 boards, while Dylan Kinley chipped in nine points.

Morris, who completed 11 of 17 from the field, continues to set the pace in the PacWest circuit with a 68.9 per cent shooting success rate.

Terry Fox alum Josiah Mastandrea came off the bench and contributed four points.

For Capilano, Pinetree alum Jacky Teny netted two points and five steals.

The PacWest league goes on holiday hiatus until Jan. 10. The Royals open the second half on Jan. 11 when they host Vancouver Island for a pair of games.

Royals strike down Blues with overtime run

It came down to an extra stanza, but the Douglas College women’s basketball team hit all the high notes en route to a 73-66 win over the Capilano University Blues on Friday in New West.

After rallying to force overtime, the red-hot Royals outscored the Blues 15-8 in the extra session to extend their win streak to five games, and improve to 5-2 on the year.

Capilano enjoyed a strong third quarter, breaking down the Royals’ 28-21 advantage to take the lead.

But Douglas, who with the win leapfrog into second place in PacWest standings, wasn’t packing it in early. After whittling a 10-point hole to just six points to start the fourth quarter, the Royals got a dramatic three-pointer from Cassandra Brinn to knot the game at 58-58 to force extra time.

Sierra Gallego came off the bench and tallied 15 points, one of three Royals to collect double-digits. Sydney Fraess led the squad with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while first year guard Hailey Van Roekel contributed 12 points. Devin Strome tallied seven points.

Counting a game-high 19 points for Capilano was Mackenzie Smith.