WINNIPEG -
Josh Whyte scored 28 points on a near perfect shooting performance to pace the no. 2 UBC Thunderbirds to a 106-91 victory over the Manitoba Bisons in Winnipeg on Friday night.
Whyte was 10-of-13 from the field, including 4-of-5 from three-point land and 4-of-4 at the line, to go along with five assists and four rebounds. Fellow fifth-year
Brent Malish scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting as the duo paced a UBC (11-2) offence that shot 57.1% from the floor to outdistance a pesky Manitoba (7-4) squad.
Eric Garcia led the hosts with 21 points as the Bisons relied on the three-point shot to keep up with efficient T-Bird offence. Manitoba was 12-of-32 from long range but cooled significantly late in the game after a hot start from downtown kept them within three at the half.
In the third quarter, Manitoba scored the first six points to take a three point lead, however, three pointers from Malish and then Whyte put UBC ahead by one.
Kamar Burke then scored five straight points for UBC before Whyte had six in a row to grow the 'Birds lead to seven.
Then it was
Nathan Yu's turn to contribute and the fourth-year guard scored eight of UBC's last 11 points of the quarter to help the visitors to a 12 point advantage after 30 minutes.
UBC then put together a 12-0 run early in the fourth quarter that saw them take a 98-75 lead, putting the game out of reach.
Yu had 15 points and six rebounds off the bench while Burke added 14 points and nine rebounds. As a squad, UBC out rebounded Manitoba 42-32.
Josh Ogden, Jonar Huertas, and Richard Reimer all hit double figures for Manitoba with 19, 16, and 12 points respectively.
The re-match between these two schools is set for 6:00 p.m. PT on Saturday night.
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