VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds and their tenacious defence took game one of their best-of-three playoff series against the Alberta Golden Bears 92-62 on Thursday night at War Memorial Gym.

Aside from the third quarter, when Alberta outscored UBC 24-16, the T-Birds were in full command on Thursday night. They jumped out to a big lead early, thanks to a 17-4 run to begin the game. Josh Whyte and Blain LaBranche capped the run by combining for three straight three-pointers on three consecutive UBC shots.

Once they had the lead, it was all about defence for the T-Birds. They had 13 steals in the game compared to just one for Alberta, and forced the visitors to make 24 turnovers. UBC outscored Alberta 31-12 in points off turnovers.

"We have been working all year on getting lots of ball pressure to make them have to rush decisions," said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson. "They had a couple new looks offensively that they got some points off of but when you can hold teams to under 15 points in a quarter that's a good job."

Kyle Watson led UBC with 25 points, and was the only T-Bird to stand out from the pack in terms of scoring. He was one of 10 T-Birds who finished with at least six points.

"In playoffs, aggressive teams are the ones that win, and Kyle was very aggressive," said Hanson. "He took the ball to the hoop and he took some chances offensively and defensively, and sometimes guys get caught on their heels if they aren't ready to play at that intensity. He's a fifth year guy who's been in this situation each of the last three years, and we need those guys to produce for us."

Josh Whyte had a big game as well, as he flirted with a triple double, finishing with 12 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.

Scott Leigh was the only Golden Bear to hit double-digits in scoring. He was 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, finishing with 11 points on the night.

The 'Birds and Bears play game two of their series on Friday night at War Memorial Gym, with tip-off slated for 7 p.m. If Alberta is able to force a third game, it would be on Saturday night at War Memorial.

If the T-Birds win the series, they will host the Canada West Final Four on March 5 and 6.