Calgary, ALTA— The Mount Royal University men's basketball team welcomed back the Trinity Western University Spartans in a thrilling comeback victory after being down by 16 points to take the 86-83 win.

A close matchup that ended in a Spartans loss last night, TWU came soaring in the offensive zone to establish an early lead of 13-2 half through the first quarter. Notably, Jerric Palma and Josh Belvin boasted a collective 11 points within two minutes made by 3 three-pointers. Jean-Nelson Pigoue shifted momentum for the Cougars as he would get the scoring rolling for the Cougars while racking in the rebounds. The Cougars, now, were back within a 1-point differential in a matter of minutes as the Spartans gave Dray Walburger too much space at the three-point arc. Walburger would make back-to-back baskets and force the Spartans timeout. Nonetheless, Belvin continued to make his way onto the scoresheet by racking in jump shots and dishing off the right passes for his teammates.

With the Spartans lead extending past 10 points, Sam Barnie started dancing in the key against his defenders to put up some tough mid range jumpers. However, Belvin kept reminding the Cougars of his success tonight by sinking another three. The Cougars started to suffer as the Spartans continued sending off three after three but Barnie returned a deep three just as the Cougars were about to trail by 14 points. Then, a battle down at the net led to Pigoue making the basket, drawing the foul, and turning it into a 3-point play. Entering the halftime break, the Spartans would take a 46-36 lead.

Keivonte Watts and Avnoor Bhullar opened the scoring for the Cougars with both players making threes and a mix of heading to the free throw line. In spite of that, Belvin persisted as a Cougars threat by continually making jump shots and three's. As a result, the Spartans would extend to a 15-point lead. Then Bhullar would make a contested corner three in the final minute which also led to Barnie finding some space to seal another three, cutting the deficit down to 9 points.

Coming out of the two minute break, Watts and Walburger sent off 2 three-pointers to cut the game down to 3-points. It was not long before Watts met up with Belvin at the three-point arc to take the step-back three to climb back to a 2-point game, 74-72 for the Spartans. A deep three from Walburger and a put-back basket from Daniel Owoeye would give the Cougars the first lead of the night, 79-78. With the game clock dwindling to its final minutes, Watts made another tough basket then Bhullar made a quick three to send the Cougars up 84-78. The last timeout from the Spartans with 13 seconds left ended in 2 missed three-point attempts for the Cougars to take the second win of the weekend, 86-83.

The Cougars MVP for tonight is Sam Barnie as he accumulated 22 points through 9 baskets and 2 threes to help his team claim victory on Kenyon Court once again, and remain undefeated with a 4-0 record.

The MRU men's basketball team will return to Kenyon Court on November 15 at 8 p.m. MST against the University of Winnipeg Wesmen.