Team B.C.’s John Morris (Vernon/Kelowna) stayed alive in the Tim Hortons Brier with a 5-2 triumph over Brendan Bottcher of Alberta (Edmonton) Thursday morning.
Morris, with Vernon’s Jim Cotter tossing skip stones and a front end of Rick Sawatsky and Ty Griffith, closes round-robin play tonight against Adam Casey of Saskatchewan (Regina).
Morris improved to 6-4 with a chance at reaching a Friday tiebreaker if he gets some help along the way. Casey is 5-5.
In other Thursday morning play at the Mile One Centre In St. John’s, Nfld., Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario (Sault Ste. Marie) curled a cumulative 91 per cent to dispatch Casey 8-5.
The win lifted Northern Ontario’s record to 7-3 and put them within striking distance of a playoff position.
“We don’t like to lose, and it makes you feel a lot better after taking a big loss if you can come out and play well and win,” said Jacobs, the 2013 Tim Hortons Brier and 2014 Olympic champion, who noted the recovery process from the losses was pretty simple. “We had a couple beers; the same thing we did after the loss to (Brad) Gushue. Just have a couple of beers and forget about it.”
Northern Ontario will close out its round-robin schedule tonight against Alberta.
“Being 6-and-3 coming into today, we knew we control our own destiny,” said Jacobs. “ We know if we go 8-and-3, we make the playoffs. So the goal today was just to come out in both games, play the best we can, and hopefully we can squeak in there.”
In other Thursday morning matchups, Quebec’s Jean-Michel Ménard (6-3; Levis) kept his playoff hopes alive with an 8-6 win over Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories (1-8; Yellowknife); and Nova Scotia’s Jamie Murphy (3-6; Halifax) downed New Brunswick’s Mike Kennedy (1-8; Fredericton) 9-7.
Manitoba’s Mike McEwen (7-1; Winnipeg), Newfoundland/Labrador’s Gushue (6-2; St. John’s), Team Canada’s Kevin Koe (6-2; Calgary) and Ontario’s Glenn Howard (3-5; Etobicoke) all had byes Thursday morning.