VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds downed the Manitoba Bisons 103-85 to complete the sweep of their best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal series on Saturday night, earning hosting rights for next week's conference Final Four tournament.
The T-Birds led the foul-filled contest comfortably from start to finish, but did allow Manitoba several opportunities to string points together and claw back within striking distance. Had the Bisons converted more than 59 per cent of their 37 free throw attempts, the game could have had a very different complexion down the stretch.
"Obviously I'm happy that we won, but I wasn't happy with the way we executed today," said UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson. "
Nathan Yu and
Melvyn Mayott came off the bench and sparked us from a defensive standpoint and that led to some scores for us in transition, but I thought Manitoba just got way too many easy baskets. We made too many slip-ups for this time of year."
Yu and Mayott also made big contributions on the offensive end. Yu led the T-Birds with 19 points and Mayott was second with 17.
Josh Whyte,
Doug Plumb and
Brent Malish also cracked double digits in scoring, with Malish's 10 rebounds earning him a double-double, but Hanson said offence is not his team's priority right now.
"We're not too concerned with where our scoring comes from because we have weapons in a lot of different places," said Hanson. "We did want to get more scoring in the paint and we did a good job of that, but really it's defence and knowing our roles and schemes. We need to focus on the little things that we work on in practice and translate them over to the game."
Like the Bisons, the T-Birds had plenty of opportunities from the charity stripe but also left a lot of points on the line. UBC hit 63 per cent of its 33 free throws, and the teams combined for 51 fouls on the night.
The 'Birds did a good job taking care of the ball though, turning it over just seven times while forcing 14 Manitoba turnovers. They took advantage of those opportunities too, outscoring the visitors 23-2 off turnovers.
Fifth-year guard Eric Garcia went out with a bang for Manitoba, scoring a game-high 25 points and adding five assists in his final CIS game. Kevin Oliver had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The T-Birds will now host Alberta, Trinity Western and Saskatchewan next weekend for the Canada West Final Four. The T-Birds start with Alberta, while Saskatchewan and Trinity Western make up the other semifinal pairing. Those games go on Friday, with the championship and bronze medal games following on Saturday. All Final Four games are at War Memorial Gym.
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