VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds completed a weekend of stifling defence against the Lethbridge Pronghorns with a 98-54 win on Friday night at War Memorial Gym, extending their win streak to six games heading into the semester break.
Lethbridge's 24-point third quarter was almost as much offence as they generated in the first, second and fourth quarters combined, but it wasn't enough to get them back in the game. The T-Birds already had a 21-point lead heading into the fourth, and they held the visitors off the scoreboard for the first five and a half minutes of the final frame as they went on a 20-0 run to put the game away.
UBC's comfortable lead gave the bench players ample opportunity to showcase the team's depth, and they didn't disappoint. The T-Birds got 55 points from the bench with three bench players hitting double digits.
"In the fourth quarter we got a chance to play some of the young guys in some quality minutes and I thought they played really well together," said UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson. "They played great defence and shared the basketball so there were lots of positives that came out of that game."
Melvyn Mayott led all players with 18 points off the bench while adding five rebounds.
"The greatest thing about Melvyn is he is comfortable coming off the bench. He comes in and gets a chance to see the flow of the game," Hanson said. "His energy stems from his defence and he did a great job of taking away the baseline and got some deflections, some rebounds and obviously when he gives us three-pointers at the offensive end it extends the defence. I thought he had a tremendous weekend and I'm really happy for him."
The T-Birds displayed some impressive ball movement with 26 assists compared to seven for the 'Horns.
Alex Murphy had 11 dimes for the second straight game.
"Alex had a tremendous weekend trying to find guys," Hanson said. "He penetrated and sacrificed shooting the ball to get some assists. He did a great job of that and it's great to see him playing so well. He's not just finding one guy but two or three different guys."
Randy Davis led the 'Horns with 16 points. Derek Waldner had 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.
This game marked the end of the first half of the regular season schedule and a six-game homestand for the T-Birds. They won all six games to move to 10-2 on the year, and will look to pick up where they left off on January 7 when their conference schedule resumes in Manitoba against the Bisons.
Lethbridge falls to 3-9 with the loss. They also get back to work on January 7 at home against Alberta.
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