HALIFAX (CIS) - Kyle Coston's three-pointer with 11.6 seconds left turned out to be the winner, as the no. 4 seeded Trinity Western Spartans defeated the top-seeded UBC Thunderbirds 74-72 in the first semi-final at the 2011 CIS Final 8.
With the win, TWU heads to the CIS championship final and will face the winner of the Carleton-Saskatchewan semi-final at 1:00 p.m. PT on Sunday. UBC takes on the loser of that semi-final in the CIS bronze medal game at 9:15 a.m. PT.
Coston, who netted a game-high 23 points, hit the game clincher after Trinity Western moved the ball around the perimeter against a tenacious UBC defence. The T-Birds had one last chance to extend or win the contest but a
Kamar Burke three-pointer was no good as time expired.
Burke was nearly the hero for UBC at the end and had put his T-Birds ahead 72-21 with 31 seconds left. Following up on a
Josh Whyte miss, Burke grabbed his 15th rebound of the game and converted an easy lay-up. He finished the game with 13 points and three assists to go along with his massive effort on the glass.
Coston had a dominant second-half after scoring just three points in the opening 20 minutes. He also led TWU with 12 rebounds and added three assists. Jacob Doerksen netted 16 points and Calvin Westbrook, Trinity Western's most efficient scorer early on, finished with 15.
Fifth-year point guard
Alex Murphy led UBC with 21 points and
Nathan Yu had 14 off the bench.
Josh Whyte, the 2009-10 CIS Player of the Year and a 2010-11 first-team All-Canadian, scored 12 points on 3-of-15 shooting. Whyte, who didn't start UBC's quarterfinal against Acadia, played through a lower leg injury once again today.
Trailing 10-9 after a cagey first six minutes to the game, UBC went on a 12-2 run to close out the first quarter to lead 22-12. Switching to a zone defence, the 'Birds forced TWU out of their gameplan and towards the three-point line. An old-fashion three-point play from Murphy put UBC ahead 14-10 and then a Burke lay-in off a Yu steal made it 16-10. Coston hit a pair of free throws for Trinity Western before back-to-back threes from Murphy and Yu closed out the first frame.
The second quarter saw UBC continue their momentum from the opener, and a 9-0 run courtesy of Whyte and Murphy had UBC ahead 31-15. TWU put together a few small runs and chipped away at the T-Bird lead. The Spartans put together a late 6-0 push to make it 37-30 but with 5.4 seconds on the clock, the 'Birds executed a perfect full-length press break that resulted in a lay-in for
Nathan Yu as time expired to lead 39-30 at recess.
"We started to roll a bit in the first half and I thought we were playing pretty well up 16 points in the second quarter. A bunch of players got into foul trouble early. We got out of sync with our rotations and it kind of caught our flow. So often when a player picks up two early fouls and then comes back in the third quarter, it's so difficult to get back into the flow," said UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson, whose team had five players with two fouls in the first half.
In the third quarter, the Spartans came out on a tear and went on a 10-0 run to pull the game even. A Burke lay-in put UBC back in front 41-40. It was lead changes from then on but UBC struggled on offence and scored their last seven points at the free throw line to stick with the Spartans. Doerksen, who had only five points in the first half, had seven in the first five minutes of the third to pace the TWU comeback.
The fourth quarter was a see-saw affair and a pair of Colston free throws put TWU up four at 57-53. After UBC cut into that deficit, the lead was never more than a basket either way for the rest of the contest. With TWU leading 71-70, Coston went 0-for-2 at the line which opened the door for Burke to put his 'Birds ahead. Coston, however, made amends with his game winning three on the next Spartan possession.
"It's really tough to take one on the chin like this. It's not a reflection of the season. We had a bad half of basketball today but it's not a reflection on what we accomplished this year," said Hanson of his team's 30-3 record against CIS competition so far this season.
For UBC, tomorrow's bronze medal game will be the end of the line for a trio of fifth-years in Whyte, Murphy, and
Brent Malish. Murphy and Malish have been five years T-Birds, while Whyte has been at UBC the last three seasons.
"There aren't a lot of players that have played in five national championships, or three in Josh's case. History cannot change that. They've won a lot of basketball games and I'm really proud of what they've accomplished. They've been great ambassadors for our program," noted Hanson.
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