VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball team finished undefeated at the Wilfrid Laurier Hawk Challenge in Waterloo, Ontario after beating the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday 75-55.
The T-Birds got past host Laurier the day before to open the tournament.
BOXSCORE
“We felt that the team played quite well today considering the quick turnaround from the 7 p.m. game last night to the 2 p.m. start today,” said UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson.
“Defensively we were strong in the first quarter and we were able to hold them to 11 points. It was great that we were able to get everyone in to game and get some of the young guys some good minutes.”
UBC started the game with a 7-0 run and kept building its advantage.
A
Doug Plumb (Pitt Meadows, BC) jump shot with 1:12 left in the second quarter put the T-Birds up 37-20. The Gryphons got a bucket back to cut the halftime deficit to 37-22.
Guelph got to within nine points with 7:50 left in the third quarter but
Jared Casey (Maple Ridge, BC) answered with a jumper, sparking an 11-2 spurt that was finished off with two foul shots from
Brylle Kamen (Paris, France).
UBC eventually went up by 23 points (71-48) late in the fourth quarter before winning by the final margin.
Hanson says his team's offensive performance was sparked by its defensive play.
“Our defence allowed us to get out on the break and get a lot of easy scores in transition,” said Hanson. “Guelph is a real young team and our veteran guys stepped up and played well.”
Kamen led all players with 23 points, including 11 from the foul line on 14 trips. He also led UBC with seven rebounds.
Plumb had 15 points while
O'Brian Wallace (Toronto, ON) and
Jordan Jensen-Whyte (Calgary, AB) added 10 points each. Jensen-Whyte got all 10 of his points from the charity stripe.
The T-Birds went 24-59 from the field and outrebounded the Gryphons 44-27.
UBC will now return home to face York University on Sunday, Oct. 21 in a non-conference game at War Memorial Gymnasium.
-30-
