VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds, the third-ranked team in U Sports men's basketball, opened Canada West conference play with a comprehensive 96-60 triumph over the Thompson Rivers WolfPack Friday night in Kamloops, B.C.

"It was nice for us to come in on the road and get our first win tonight," said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson. "I thought we competed really hard. Defensively, we were very physical. We shared the ball very well. We rebounded the ball well and through our stops we were able to get some stuff through transition and I thought we handled their zone really well."

Will Ondrik, a former WolfPack player, had a game-high 17 points in 30 minutes of play. He went 7-of-11 from the field.

"He had a great game," said Hanson of Ondrik. "He was matched up with Vlad (Iegorov). Vlad is a tough match up for anybody. When we give Will a defensive focus, he seems to play well. He doesn't really have to worry about scoring. Tonight he scored as well, which was a bonus. His family was in town tonight and he likes to play well when they are here.  He did a great job getting his head into the game and being focused."

Isaiah Familia, Jordan Jensen-Whyte and Taylor Browne scored 13 points apiece. Familia, in his first-ever conference game at the university level, also grabbed nine rebounds while Jensen-Whyte nearly got a triple-double as he recorded eight assists and eight rebounds.
 


After going into the first-quarter break up 23-19, the Thunderbirds blew the game wide open with a 15-0 run in the second. TRU's Volodymyr Iegorov made a layup with about seven minutes to go before halftime to cut UBC's lead to 32-24. The Thunderbirds responded with a Jensen-Whyte putback layup and a foul shot on the next possession. Phil Jalalpoor then hit a triple and followed up with a layup. The 15-point run was capped off by a Jensen-Whyte dunk and a fast-break layup by Familia with 2:22 remaining, at which point UBC led 47-24.

The 'Birds outscored TRU 24-14 in the third and 18-10 in the fourth to complete the victory. The closest gap between the teams was 17 points, early in the third quarter. But after Derek Rhodes' three-point basket made the score 56-39, UBC had a 14-3 surge in response to push its lead towards 30 points.

Iegorov led the 'Pack with 16 points.

The two teams will face off once more this weekend, in a 7 p.m. game on Saturday at the Tournament Capital Centre.