Happy Holidays from the SFU Men's Basketball Team! After starting the season 4-0, our team travelled to San Diego to play in the Point Loma Classic for US Thanksgiving. First up we played Azusa Pacific and after leading at half-time 35-27, our offense stalled in the 2nd frame with their big 2-3 zone slowing us down. JJ Pankratz re-injured his ankle in our practice the night before, but to his credit battled-through and came up with a team-leading 10 rebounds while Michael and Kedar lead us in scoring with 24 points and 16 points. With JJ sidelined the next day against California's #2 ranked Point Loma Nazarene, Othniel Spence made his first NCAA career start. Although JJ's rebounding was missed, Othniel had an excellent second half in our loss to PLNU scoring 20 points - going 8-15 from the field including 4 for 7 from the 3pt line. On Thursday, November 30th we hosted Western Oregon (ranked #13 in the nation) for our GNAC home opener on Toques & Hoops Night in front of big crowd in the West Gym. The MEI Marching Band added to a tremendous atmosphere where both teams came out on fire offensively. Kedar was locked-in from the start and led us in the first half going 6 for 6 from the field as we built an 18-12 lead. As good as we were offensively in the first half, WOU was coming in shooting 47% from deep as a team. WOU started to heat up before the half building a 50-45 lead and never looked back in the 2nd half. WOU took our GNAC opener 96-71.Saturday night, we bounced back against Portland's Concordia University, doing a much better job finishing on the defensive end and rebounding. We won the war on the glass 41-34 and were led by JJ Pankratz and Iziah Sherman-Newsome who had 48 points and 18 rebounds between the two of them. Final score 68-60. We had excellent crowds both nights and we look forward to our upcoming home games! We now sit at 5-3 on the season, 1-1 in the GNAC with conference play continuing after Christmas when we travel to St. Martin's on December 28th and Seattle Pacific on December 30th. For the remainder of our home games, we will wear a patch in honour of the late Stan Stewardson that says "STAN" (pictured in this newsletter). We will remember what Stan meant to the SFU Men's Basketball program and do our best to honour his memory. On behalf of our program, I want to wish all of our SFU families, fans, and alumni a very Happy Holiday & Merry Christmas!
Shots from our Home Opener vs. Western Oregon, November 30, 2017 - Photos Courtesy of BC Sports Hub/Winston Brown.
SFU to play in Idaho's Cowan Spectrum > Friday, December 15th We are in our final week of exams and tomorrow we travel to Moscow, Idaho to take on the Vandals who are having an impressive season. Idaho is picked to win the Big Sky Conferencewith recent wins over Washington State (91-64) and Nicholls State (79-68). Idaho returns a veteran group with four starting seniors including guards Victor Sanders (21 ppg) and the team leader in assists, Perrion Callandret, who was a high school teammate of Zach Lavine at Bothell in Washington.Broadcast for the game will be on Pluto TV, Channel 242 or live radio.
Men's Basketball Online Store > GO HERE until December 31st With help from our friends at Big Kahuna, we have EXTENDED THE ONLINE STORE UNTIL DECEMBER 31st!With four different styles of shirts and two styles of tech fleece hoodies, we want to see our fans and families decked-out in SFU gear for the New Year! Some exclusive items that you can only find at the online store.
Alumni Update > Simon Dykstra (SFU 1986-1990) 1990 SFU Alum Simon Dykstra is a high school teacher at Vancouver's Sir Winston Churchill. He was a team captain his senior year at SFU after playing 3 years for Stan Stewardson and his final year for Jay Triano. After SFU, Simon travelled to Europe and received his first player contract to play in Copenhagen, Denmark where he stayed and spent 1991-1994 as an import player and also a head coach. During Simon's second year, he was named to Denmark All-Star Team. Simon was part of the Roskilde BBK team that was promoted into the Elite-division during his second year as a player-coach. Eventually played for Elite-division team (BMS) and returned to coach Roskilde BBK in the Elite-division during his last year overseas. Simon was able to coach fellow SFU alum, Craig Preece, during his first year in Denmark.
- 1995-1999 After Europe, returned to obtain B.A.at UBC. Was a four year assistant on Bruce Enns’s staff (UBC)
- 1996-2000 In first teaching contract, coached JV at Kitsilano Secondary. (Junior BC title in 2000)
- 2000-2002 Eventually coached Senior Boys Varsity (Won Provincial AAA titles in 2001 and 2002).
- Named head coach of Langara College by Athletic Director Theresa Hanson 2002-2004.
- 2005-currently at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary. Churchill won the Senior Boys AAAA Provincial Champions under Rick Lopez in 2014.
Below is a program from the 1987 Canadian Junior National Men's Team program. Simon is pictured top right with fellow SFU alum Tom Higgins (second row far left) . Ken Olynyk (bottom left) was the head coach - father of current Miami Heat forward Kelly Olynyk.
SFU Men's Team to Wear "STAN" Patch to Honour Stan Stewardson SFU Alum Craig Pedersen has donated honourary patches for us to wear on our home jerseys for the remainder of the 2017-18 season. Stan Stewardson, who passed away last month, was a legendary coach and mentor who was inducted to the SFU Hall of Fame in 2014
A Message from Gord Darby > 1978 Alumnus SFU Basketball Alumni & Friends, I am reaching out in memory of our long time coach and friend, Stan Stewardson.Stan had a great impact on my life.I’ll always remember the first time I went to his new (old) house in New Westminster to help with some work ... the kids were roller skating through the living room ... floors were not redone yet. Thought my Mum would have freaked out. I think that was the start of my house remodel experience ... seven houses later. And, like Stan and Heather, we lived in them during the reconstruction.I, like many of you, have some outstanding memories of Stan as well as some painful ones.After speaking with Stan’s wife, Heather, I will be making a donation to Stan’s Endowment fund at SFU in his honour. The SFU Athletics Department will also be contributing up to $10,000 in matching money to add to his fund. Stan was always generous with his time and money, having the foresight to help establish an endowment back in 2004. Each year since, that fund has paid interest into a scholarship that has already supported 12 young men to attend SFU. Stan’s fund will continue in perpetuity so that we can continue to support deserving student athletes and ensure the success of our basketball program. I am not sure if you are planning any contribution in Stan’s name but, if so, let’s continue to build on Stan’s amazing legacy by supporting the Stan Stewardson Basketball Scholarship Endowment.My goal is to increase this endowment to fund one complete Men’s Basketball scholarship annually.Thanks for “listening” ... Gord Darby To Donate Online:http://bit.ly/StewardsonBasketballFund By Cheque or Phone contact:Kurtis CharchunRoom 220 Lorne Davies ComplexSimon Fraser University 8888 University Drive Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6Office: 778-782-9765 | Cell: 604-363-0418Email: kurtis_charchun@sfu.ca
Upcoming Games > IDAHO, DOUGLAS & LANGARATomorrow, we travel to Moscow, Idaho at the end of our 2-week exam period to play Division I Idaho Vandals at the Cowan Spectrum on Friday night, December 15th. We have a few players that will be unable to travel with exams finishing on Saturday night, but this will be a huge test regardless of our line-up. We return home Saturday and get ready for two of Canada's top college teams. #10 Douglas on Monday, December 18th and HM Langara on Tuesday, December 19th before our 7-day Christmas Break. We hope you will join us for our last two home games of 2017!
- SFU @ IDAHO > Friday, December 15th - 7:00 PM PST - Radio/TV Here
- SFU Home vs. DOUGLAS > Monday, December 18th - 12:00 PM PST
- SFU Home vs. LANGARA > Tuesday, December 19th - 12:00 PM PST
Check Out > Season Schedule here. Receive a 2017-18 Men's Basketball Poster at SFU Home Games
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