SURPRISE, Ariz. - It was a tough afternoon for the OUAZ men's basketball team in a 85-67 loss to Vanguard University. The loss snaps the Spirit's two-game winning streak and dropped them to 17-7 overall (9-6 in conference action) with just three games left in the regular season. More importantly, OUAZ is now fifth in league standings. Only six teams make the GSAC post-season tournament in Fullerton, Calif. Held February 23-25, the men's tournament champion will secure an automatic berth into the NAIA Men's Basketball Opening Round which begins on March 7th. 

Just One Of Those Days
Occasionally in sports your opponent has a day when everything goes right, and that was certainly the case in the loss to Vanguard. The Lions hit 59% of their shots from the floor, including more than a few better designed for a game of HORSE. On the other end, however, OUAZ had a rough shooting performances hitting just 39.2% from the floor, 25% from beyond the arc and 62.9% from the line.

The Spirit held the lead for all but about three minutes of the first half and trailed by a bucket at halftime (37-25). OUAZ hit the first basket of the second half to knot the game, but a 18-6 VU run over the next six minutes was too much to overcome. The Spirit did get within seven with 11 to go (57-50) but another VU run (21-9) put it out of reach. Keshawn Bruner led all Spirit scorers with 15 points, while Josiah De'laCerda, Devin Collins and Jayce Catchings added 12 a piece.

Coming Up Next
OUAZ makes its final regular season road trip this week with games at Menlo (Feb. 9 @8:30pm MST) and Jessup University (Feb. 11 @3pm MST). About a month ago, both teams came to Surprise and Menlo beat OUAZ 91-78, while Jessup lost 92-84 to the Spirit.