BRANDON - Putting together one of the most complete performances in team history, the UBC Thunderbirds defeated the Brandon Bobcats 101-42 on the road Friday night.
The 59-point margin of victory is the largest for the T-Birds under head coach
Kevin Hanson and was punctuated by an awesome defensive effort coupled with a sparkling offensive display.
UBC held Brandon to single digit scoring in the first, second, and fourth quarters while knocking down 50.7% of their field goals (35-69) which included a 13-of-25 performance from downtown.
"Tonight was a culmination of some things we have been working on in practice and we started to reap the rewards. In the first half of the year, I'm not sure we had an identify but now our guys are starting to understand and adapt to their roles," said Hanson. "Our execution was very good tonight and we were making the extra pass. That gave us a lot of open looks and tonight, we were making them count."
Josh Whyte led a quintet of T-Birds in double figures with 19 points and was deadly from three-point range, converting on five of his eight attempts.
Nathan Yu added 16 points off the bench in only 17 minutes with
Brent Malish (14),
Doug Plumb (14), and
Tommy Nixon (12) also cracking the 10-point barrier.
"Our stats were pretty impressive on offence. We were able to pound the ball inside and when they collapsed, we kicked it out and found the open looks," noted Hanson. "Our defensive pressure also forced them into some bad passes and we got a lot of buckets early on in transition."
It was all UBC from the tip-off as the visitors raced out to a 10-0 run in the first two minutes and a
Josh Whyte three-pointer late in the quarter had the 'Birds ahead 23-6 after 10 minutes of play. The visitors carried that momentum into the second frame, and an early 14-0 run put to rest any doubts about the evening's result.
"Our effort and energy was good right from the get go. You never know how you are going to play after a bit of a bus trip but we got our legs underneath us with a good shooter this morning and it paid off with the quick start," noted Hanson.
Trailing 52-13 at the break, the Bobcats found some life in the third quarter, keeping pace with the T-Birds. Brandon poured in 20 points over the frame but UBC's 25 saw them extend their lead before another one-sided result in the fourth. UBC sealed the win with a 24-9 advantage over the game's final 10 minutes.
Kyrie Coleman was the lone Bobcat to hit double figures, finishing with 11 points. Brandon finished the night 17-of-59 (28.8%) from the field, turned the ball over 25 times, and saw the 'Birds own the glass with a 40-30 rebounding advantage.
UBC's biggest win prior to tonight since Hanson took over in 2000 was a 95-37 exhibition victory over Wilfrid Laurier on October 8, 2008 in Vancouver. The T-Birds largest margin of victory in a conference game was also from the 2008-09 season when they defeated Thompson Rivers 106-51 in Kamloops on January 3, 2009.
The two teams meet again tomorrow night in the re-match with tip-off set for 6:00 p.m. PT.
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