Terry Fox secondary school grad Matt Cooley achieved a rare accomplishment on the basketball court to lead the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades to an 87-58 win over the University of Northern BC Timberwolves Saturday in Prince George.
Cooley, a fifth-year centre who’s from Coquitlam, registered the first triple-double in Cascades’ history, and he was only the 17th player in the Canada West conference to hit double digits in points, rebounds and assists.
Cooley said it felt “amazing” to score 14 points, pull down 13 rebounds and add 10 assists. He said it was especially gratifying to be able to impact the game beyond scoring.
“I like to see my teammates as well as myself on the stat sheet,” the 6’9” Cooley said. “To me, getting an assist is way better than scoring.”
Cascades’ coach Adam Friesen said Cooley’s performance was especially remarkable for a big man.
“You usually find someone of his height who can do the scoring and rebounds, but not usually the assists,” he said. “He’s definitely showing all three of those facets this season at a high level.”
In fact, Cooley is the tallest player to get a triple-double in Canada West history.
“He’s having a tremendous year,” Friesen said. “To be rewarded with this type of performance is a great honour.”
The win improved UFV’s record to 6-6, eighth in the conference. The Cascades play a home-and-home series against Trinity Western University beginning Thursday at the Langley Events Centre (6 p.m. for the women’s game, 8 p.m. for the men’s game) and Saturday at TWU’s Envision Financial Athletic Centre (women 5 p.m., men 7 p.m.).
