VANCOUVER -
Brent Malish was a perfect 9-for-9 from the field to lead his UBC Thunderbirds to a 101-63 win over the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on Friday night at War Memorial Gym.
Malish was just one of three UBC fifth-years to put up big numbers, as he combined with
Josh Whyte and
Alex Murphy to account for 60 points, 43 of which came in the first half.
"The three fifth-year guys really sparked us in the first half with their offence and intensity," said UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson. "They have been emotional for their last home regular season series, and they came out and really set the tone for it."
Malish had 22 points through three quarters before sitting out the fourth with the game well in-hand. His 22 still stood as the game-high, while Whyte poured in 21 points and Murphy contributed 17. Whyte and Murphy also combined for 15 assists and five of UBC's 13 steals in the contest.
The T-Birds led comfortably for much of the night, going up by as many as 43 points early in the fourth. But it was actually the WolfPack who had the hot start, jumping out to a 15-11 lead early in the first. That didn't last long though, as the 'Birds would go on a 23-3 run over the next seven minutes of action, led by their trio of seniors.
"You hope your veterans are going to play well this time of year, and they should," said Hanson. "Our guys have a lot of experience with this time of year, and we have a few injuries we are dealing with so some guys are having to log more minutes than we'd like, but you just gotta get through it and suck it up."
The biggest obstacle for UBC on the night - literally - was the intimidating post presence of 7-foot-2 Greg Stewart. The big man was rolling through the first three quarters both offensively and on the glass, until foul trouble slowed his progress late in the game. He still finished with his sixth straight double-double, grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds to go with 18 points and three blocks.
"Greg Stewart is a huge human being and a big presence down low," said Hanson. "In that third quarter he went 5-for-5 so he's a big challenge because he's really developed into a good basketball player, but we did some good things defensively and our rotations were good."
UBC forced 27 TRU turnovers and outscored them 40-13 off turnover opportunities. The UBC bench outscored TRU's reserves 24-3.
The T-Birds are still on top of the standings at 19-2 on the year. Trinity Western is 20-3, but with just one game remaining to UBC's three. Even with a Trinity Western win in their regular season finale tomorrow, the T-Birds would need just two wins in their final three games to finish on top, as they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The WolfPack fall to 4-19 on the year, and will wrap up their season tomorrow with game two against the T-Birds at War Memorial Gym. It will be
Alex Murphy's 109th career conference game, which ties a Canada West record currently shared by former T-Birds Matt Rachar and Bryson Kool. Tip-off is at 8 p.m.
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