VANCOUVER - It was a case of more of the same from the no. 1 ranked UBC Thunderbirds (10-0) as they used their formula of balanced scoring, aggressive rebounding, and tenacious defence to remain undefeated this season with a 97-63 victory over the UFV Cascades (6-5) on Friday night at War Memorial.
The T-Birds had all five starters, and their sixth man, in double figures, they out rebounded a tough UFV squad 43-31, and held the Cascades to only 28.8% shooting (19-66).
"Certain line-ups in the first half shared the ball really well and when we do that we are hard to stop," said UBC boss
Kevin Hanson. "UFV is a good rebounding team and that is something we focused on especially in the second half."
Josh Whyte had another spectacular performance leading the UBC offence, putting up 15 points, nine assists (zero turnovers), and two blocks in only 18 minutes of action.Â
Blain LaBranche led all scorers with 16 points, and teamed with fellow starts Whyte,
Graham Bath,
Kyle Watson, and
Kamar Burke to score 65 points, dish out 18 assists, and haul in 21 boards.
Hanson noted the strong play of his starting forward trio of Bath, Burke, and Watson who helped UBC take control down low. The T-Birds out scored the Cascades 58-12 in the paint.
"All three of those guys like to play a physical game and we needed that tonight as UFV didn't back down one bit. Kamar is such a spectacular athlete and guys are starting to find him in the right spots with the ball. If we can get Graham scoring down low it gives us a lot of options with our inside-outside game and I thought we really used that to our advantage tonight."
Leading 45-29 at the half, the T-Birds put the game out of reach with a 31-10 advantage in a dominant third quarter. A LaBranche three-pointer put UBC up 61-36 with 5:49 to play and then following a Sheldon Bjorgaard long-range three that made it 63-39, the T-Birds closed the quarter 11-0 run.
UFV had a small advantage in the fourth quarter, out scoring UBC 24-21 but by then the outcome had already been determined.
The T-Birds ended the night shooting 59.1% (39-66) thanks in large part to their 25 assists that resulted in a number of easy baskets in the paint.
It couldn't have had a much better start for the hosts, as they raced out to a 10-0 lead. UFV finally got onto the scoreboard three and a half minutes into the game with a pair of free throws, however, a lay-up by Watson put UBC up 18-3 with 4:34 left in the quarter. The Cascades inched back into the contest with a trio of three-pointers but still trailed by nine after one quarter.
UBC continued to roll in the second frame and a LaBranche three-pointer with less than a minute to play gave them a comfortable 45-29 lead.
The T-Birds host the Cascades in a rematch tomorrow night with tip-off set for 8:00 p.m. at War Memorial Gym.
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