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“We play our brand of basketball and we want to come out on top and it’s happening for us. I just hope we continue to stick with it.”
Jalen Harris led the way with 26 points and nine assists to go along with six rebounds and two steals.
“We took a lot of what we learned from the last game (against Montreal) when we were down 20, in terms of us being up 20 this game and not letting them do (come back) like we did,” said Harris, whose Rattlers improved their CEBL record to 3-0 this season.
“We kind of went out and tried not to have any lulls. That was the main thing: trying to keep consistent, trying to keep our distance with the score.”
Harkless finished the night with 19 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots.
“We just had to come out and execute,” said Harkless. “Coaches put together a great game plan. We had a great shoot-around earlier this morning and we were just ready to play, a great opportunity to hold home court for our last game (before heading on a road trip).”
A spectacular dunk by Harkless ended the third quarter in electrifying style, getting rave reviews from his Rattlers head coach Larry Abney.
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“That dunk at the end of the third quarter will be a highlight replay for a while — love it, love it,” said Abney. “It’s part of the reason I brought him up here. Even him being young, I think his growth and what he has in his future is going to be really, really good.”
Said Harkless: “Man, university guy had been telling me, ‘I have never seen you dunk.’ I told him I’d get a dunk today and it just happen to be in highlight fashion.”
Maurice Calloo and Grant Basile also scored 19 points each for Saskatchewan, which led 29-16 after the opening quarter, 54-35 at half-time and 75-56 after three quarters.
Calloo added 10 rebounds for a double-double to go along with one assist and one steal.
Basile had seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and one blocked shot.
Zach Copeland led Vancouver with 26 points to go along with four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Nick Ward had 23 points and a game-high 15 rebounds as well as two assists, one steal and one blocked shot.
Koby Mcewen chipped in with 18 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and one steal.
“Our game plan was to limit their bigs, make it hard for them, wear-and-tear on them,” noted Abney. “We did an excellent job on it. We had (Nick) Ward more of a passer than an aggressor. Ward had decent numbers but, again, we took a lot out of him to get those numbers. Our guys played tough. They played 40 minutes — that was part of the game plan — and they did that really well.
“That was definitely part of the mantra — talking to them about playing 40 minutes. Coming in from the jump, I told them they were talented enough to win in 12 (minutes against Montreal), that what could they do in 40? They answered that bell. They came out right from the jump and played well all the way through. Execution wasn’t always great but the heart was definitely in it the entire game.”
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