VANCOUVER - Tough defence and hot shooting earned the UBC Thunderbirds a sweep of rival Trinity Western with a 103-70 win in game two on Saturday at War Memorial Gym.
The teams were even at 21 after a quarter, but the T-Birds' defence sparked them to a huge second quarter in which they outscored the Spartans 32-17.
Kamar Burke had three of the team's six steals in the quarter, helping the 'Birds score 12 points off turnovers in the frame.
That set the pace for the rest of the night, as UBC continued to cruise on the strength of 44 points off turnovers and 49 from the bench. They also shot 60 per cent from the field on the night.
"I thought in the second quarter we really made our run when we got some deflections, some loose balls and scored in transition," said UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson. "They got caught up court a little bit and we got some layups to start our offence."
Burke had another big night on the boards for UBC. After grabbing 17 rebounds on Thursday, he had a game-high 13 after three quarters on Saturday before sitting out the fourth.
"He's just so athletic," Hanson said. "Kamar just has a natural instinct to go after the ball, and when you can rebound 11 feet high you are going to get some rebounds. It's hard to teach guys to go get it, but he's got that skill to go get it and no matter where he is on the floor he seems to come up with it."
The big lead allowed the T-Bird reserves to log significant minutes, especially in the fourth quarter, when the UBC starters combined for just five minutes of court time. The bench still managed to further extend the UBC lead, with stellar performances by rookies
Malcolm Williams and
Nakai Luyken, as well as sophomore
Tommy Nixon.
"It's great to have the opportunity to get this much playing time for our young guys so early in the season," Hanson said. "It's great when your young guys can not just maintain the level of play but actually increase the lead. They showed me that they knew the scouting report, they knew what we were supposed to do and they executed so I'm thrilled with the way the young guys played."
Nixon scored 15 points and added five rebounds. Luyken recorded six assists and four steals, and Williams netted 15 to go with three assists, in addition to playing tenacious defence in 31 minutes off the bench.
"Malcolm has been outstanding because he's played both sides of the ball," Hanson said. "A lot of times a rookie can come in and be good offensively, but he's also guarding fifth-year All-Canadian-level guys, and doing a great job on them. He cares about defending, and I think he's been one of our most complete players this year."
Sean Peter needed just 25 minutes to put up a game-high 21 points and lead his Spartans with six rebounds. West Mallory dropped in 12 points off the bench on just four field goals.
Nathan Yu equaled Peter's 21 points for UBC, and added nine assists and four steals in a well-rounded effort at point guard for the 'Birds.
The win sees UBC start the year 4-0, while the Spartans drop to 2-4. The Spartans play next week at Saskatchewan and East Division-leading Alberta.
The T-Birds finish their first half schedule next week on the road against Lethbridge and Calgary. Their next home action will be after the holiday break on January 6 and 7.
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