HUSKIES HOME FOR FIRST TIME IN 20132013-01-16

Falling out of the CIS Top 10 for the first time in 37 polls two weeks ago, the University of Saskatchewan Huskie men’s basketball made a statement with a sweep on a road trip to start 2013.

On Friday and Saturday, the HUskies will face another pair of B.C. teams. UBC Okanagan Heat hits Saskatoon Friday, while the Thompson Rivers WolfPack will face the Huskies Saturday.

Saskatchewan (8-4) boasts the league’s top offence averaging 90 points per game and sits third in the Prairie Division. The UBC O Heat has a last place 2-11 record, while Thompson Rivers enters at 6-7.

UBC O and TRU will also face the Alberta Golden Bears in the weekend series. Thompson Rivers is in Edmonton Friday, while the Heat will face the Bears Saturday night.

Since 2005-06, the Huskies are 9-0 against the WolfPack and won the lone meeting against the Heat last year.

The Huskies have been led on offence by Canada West scoring leader Stephon Lamar's 25.5 points per game and sophomore Matthew Forbes averaging 16.3 points per game. On defence, fifth-year forward Patrick Burns is holding down the back line, averaging 9.5 rebounds and 20 steals on the season.

UBC Okanagan has spread the ball around to win games this season with four players averaging double digits. Azi Fahandeg-Sadi leads the group with 14 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Mitch Goodwin adds 13.4 and Yassine Ghomari chips in another 11.8 per night. Anwar Faza has scored 10.8 a night.

The majority of the WolfPack scoring comes from Will Ondrik, Kevin Pribilsky and Brett Rouault. Ondrik scores 16.5 a night, Pribilsky adds another 15.8, while Rouault chips in 14.7. On the boards, Blaz Bozinovic has tallied 7.6 rebounds per game.

The men will tip off at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Both games will be webcast on www.canadawest.tv.