HALIFAX (CIS) - Fourth-year
Doug Plumb, playing in his first CIS Final 8 with UBC, turned in a big second-half performance as the top-seeded UBC Thunderbirds earned a 96-77 victory over the no. 8 Acadia Axemen in their quarterfinal match-up at the Metro Centre in Halifax.
UBC meets conference rivals Trinity Western in the first semi-final on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. PT. The game can be heard live on CiTR.ca or viewed on tape delay on TSN2 at 4:00 p.m. PT.
BOX SCORE
Plumb scored 14 of his team-high 20 points after the break to lead UBC past a pesky Acadia squad that hung tough for three quarters before the T-Birds pulled away with a 27-15 effort in the fourth. UBC also got big performances from
Josh Whyte (19 points, seven rebounds, six assists),
Brent Malish (17 pts, 7 rbs), and
Kamar Burke (13 pts, 8 rbs).
Acadia was paced by second-year Owen Klassen who finished with 22 points. Anthony Sears poured in 19 and Alex McLaughlin added 16.
"In the first half, we didn't play UBC basketball. We came out in the second-half and really settled down. Once we started playing our game, we began to take control and got going offensively," said Plumb, who had previously played at Fraser Valley before joining UBC prior to the 2010-11 campaign.
T-Bird head coach
Kevin Hanson echoed Plumb's sentiments.
"With our history in Halifax, obviously the first game was always going to be a big one for us. It was really important for us to get it out of the way," said Hanson, referring to UBC's record of 0-4 at CIS Final 8 opening games in Halifax from 2003-2007 (didn't qualify in 2005).
"The first game at nationals, you always expect it to be close early on but that definitely stretched into the early part of the second half. It's the first time you've played outside your conference since early in the year, so yes you have scouting reports and you have game tape but you don't really get a feel for your opponent until you get out on the floor and guard them," added Hanson.
The Axemen's Cinderella story - they qualified for nationals with a stunning upset of Cape Breton (19-1) in the AUS semi-final after posting a 7-13 regular season record - was intact midway through the third quarter as they trailed 59-57 following a Sears lay-in.
That's when Plumb started to come alive for the T-Birds, weaving his way through the Acadia zone and finishing in traffic. He had a pair of buckets down the stretch in the third quarter, as UBC started to pull away leading 69-62 through 30 minutes.
It was more of the same from Plumb in the fourth, as he began the frame with a steal before scoring six of the T-Birds next 11 to increase the advantage to 80-67. Acadia had no response and couldn't keep pace with the T-Birds once they pushed the pace down the stretch.
"We made some really good second-half adjustments which were the difference," added Hanson. "We did a much better job defensively in the second half, especially against Klassen. He is a really good player and can hurt you in so many ways. In the second half we gave more help on defence and really collapsed on him."
In the first half, the Axemen relied on their rotation of six players to hang with 'Birds. UBC took a 47-42 lead at the break thanks to a 9-2 run over the final 1:36 of the half that included six points and an assist from Whyte. A rare four-point play from Whyte put UBC in front 42-40. He found
Nathan Yu in the corner on the 'Birds next possession and a three-pointer had UBC up five. After Klassen hit a pair of free throws, Whyte closed the half with a tough jumper that just beat the buzzer.
UBC shot an impressive 61.5% from the field in the game and had success most of the afternoon on offence when they weren't turning the ball over. At one point, UBC had 12 turnovers to just five for Acadia and finished the game with 15 compared to 10 for the Axemen. Acadia shot 43.9% from the field and were 8-of-21 (38.1%) from downtown.
The T-Birds advance to their third straight CIS semi-final after a streak of five straight losses in opening round games - four in Halifax and one in Ottawa.
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