Files courtesy TWU Sports Information
LANGLEY, BC -
Josh Whyte scored 23 points to lead the UBC Thunderbirds (2-1) past the TWU Spartans (2-1) 91-69 on Friday night at the Langley Events Centre in front of a TWU record 1,700 fans.
In the first quarter, the T-Birds established their dominance inside, and outside, as they staked themselves to a 19-5 lead and eliminated the Spartans home crowd advantage.
With the Spartans missing shots from all over, particularly from beyond the arc where they didn't hit a three-pointer in the opening quarter, and frequently turning the ball over – TWU had 34 turnovers to UBC's 21 by game's end – UBC converted several easy lay-ups early on and it was the start of a long night for TWU.
The Spartans trailed by as many as 16 points in the first quarter and were down 27-14 heading into the second frame.
In the second quarter, the Spartans managed to slow UBC's attack and started whittling away at the T-Birds lead. A pair of late three-balls from Tyrell Mara and Tristan Smith closed the gap to nine points. But that was as close as TWU would get, as UBC pushed its lead back to 41-31 by the half.
Whyte continued to frustrate the opposition as he had 12 points in the opening half, while teammate
Brent Malish had nine points,
Kamar Burke had seven and
Balraj Bains led UBC with five rebounds.
For TWU, Doerksen had 12 first-half points and Tyrell Mara led the team with eight rebounds.
While UBC's lead was just 10 to start the second half, it didn't take long for the T-Birds to put the game away in the third quarter. With Whyte and Burke leading the way, the T-Birds went on a 15-0 run to give themselves a 63-35 lead and, essentially, the win.
The Spartans outscored UBC 23-20 in the fourth quarter but never threatened what was an insurmountable T-Birds lead.
Whyte and Doerksen each led their respective teams with 23 points on the night, but the difference was secondary scoring.
The Spartans Calvin Westbrook, with 14 points, and Tyrell Mara, with 11 points were the only other players to hit double digits for TWU, while the T-Birds had four other players get 10 or more points in Burke (18 points),
Nathan Yu (13 points), Malish (12 points) and
Doug Plumb (10 points).
The two teams meet in a rematch Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at the Langley Events Centre.
GAME NOTES – The T-Birds out rebounded TWU 36-31…TWU was only 16-for-28 from the free throw line...UBC shot 43.8 per cent from the field compared to TWU's 39.3 per cent.
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