BURNABY, BC - The top ranked UBC Thunderbirds (14-1) had their 13-game winning streak snapped by the no. 7 ranked SFU Clan (12-3) in Thursday night's 82-79 loss but on Saturday afternoon the T-Birds were all business in the second game of the weekend defeating the Clan 77-68 at SFU's West Gym.
The win solidifies UBC's hold on first place in both the Pacific Division and Canada West. With three games remaining on the schedule, the 'Birds hold a two-game cushion over the Clan in both races and own the tiebreak over their rivals from Burnaby.
After combining for just five points in Thursday's upset loss,
Blain LaBranche and
Kamar Burke had huge performances as the T-Birds manufactured another second-half comeback win. LaBranche led all scorers with 21 points and chipped in with seven rebounds while Burke tallied 17 points on a 6-of-7 shooting performance to go along with five boards and three steals.
Trailing by five at the half, the T-Birds would go on to out score the Clan 25-15 in the third quarter and 22-18 in the fourth, as they held SFU to 30.4% (7-of-23) shooting in the second half.
"It was another physical, tough game today and I thought both teams played very well," said UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson. "We ratcheted up our defensive intensity tonight and took away some of the long range looks we gave up on Thursday. We are a much better team when we are aggressive on defence and that's how we played tonight."
Burke opened the second half with a three-pointer for the 'Birds and UBC pulled even with SFU at 35 on the next possesion when the third-year T-Bird forward stole an errant SFU pass at mid-court and went in for the uncontested dunk.
Chas Kok responded with a three-pointer and SFU regained a five-point lead midway through the quarter on a pair of Eric Burrell free throws.
UBC pulled even again with 4:10 left in the quarter following a
Brent Malish three-pointer and a
Josh Whyte lay-up.
The T-Birds then took control of the quarter, continuing their 5-0 run with eight more points to lead 52-44 with 1:55 left in the frame. SFU fought their way back in, making five of six free throws over the next minute but a Whyte lay-in with four seconds left had the T-Birds up 55-50 going into the fourth.
Whyte, who had no points in 12 first half minutes, led the UBC rally with 16 points and four assists, playing all 20 minutes over the final two quarters.
The Clan didn't make their first field goal until 5:22 of the fourth quarter and by then the T-Birds had fashioned an 11-point advantage.
Greg Gillies made a three-pointer with 3:49 left in the game to cut the UBC lead to just four at 68-64 but that is as close as the visitors would get.
Kok led the Clan for the second straight game with 18 points but the fourth-year forward left the game with just over three minutes left with an ankle injury, stunting SFU's comeback effort.
Four other SFU starters also hit double figures with Sean Burke, Matt Kuzminski, and Burrell scoring 13, 12, and 10 points respectively. Those four, however, couldn't overcome the Clan's 36.4% (20-of-55) shooting from the floor.
The T-Birds ended the game shooting 44.6% (25-of-56) and also held a 41-34 advantage in the rebounding battle. UBC's free-throw shooting woes continued as they made only 21-of-35 (60%) attempts but it didn't factor in down the stretch as UBC generated three-straight Clan turnovers to end the game.
The first half was dictated by a series of runs and the Clan closed the first quarter with a 10-2 advantage over the last four minutes.
Four consecutive jumpers in the paint put SFU up 19-11 with 1:30 remaining in the first. A pair of
Nathan Yu free throws brought the T-Birds within six but Kok ended the quarter with a fade away jumper from just inside the three-point line to stake the Clan to their eight point advantage after 10 minutes.
The T-Birds responded with a series of strong defensive stands to begin the second frame and LaBranche scored five points during UBC's 9-0 run to start the quarter.
Another LaBranche lay-up with 3:26 remaining gave UBC a 27-24 lead, however, Sean Burke responded with his first three of the contest to tie the game at 27-27. The Clan used that long-range jumper to steal back momentum and ended the half on a 9-3 three run capped off by a Matt Kuzminski three as time expired in the second quarter to lead 35-30 at the half.
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