VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball team took down the visiting York Lions 120-84 on Sunday night in non-conference action. 7 players had double figures for UBC in a well-rounded team effort. Third-year forward Tommy Nixon (Vancouver, BC) led the way with 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists, while Brylle Kamen (Paris, France) was another force to be reckoned with, racking up 19 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 assists on the night.. Akeem Isaac (Scarborough, ON) had a game-high 23 points for the Lions.
UBC head coach Kevin Hanson acknowledged that York was in tough tonight. The Lions were in town at the end of a 4-game road trip, while the Thunderbirds were already well rested from their games last weekend. Knowing that their opponents would be playing on tired legs, the strategy for UBC was to keep the pressure high and run up the tempo of the game, and it paid off. “It'd be an interesting game to play them with fresh legs as opposed to them in game 4 of a road trip,” Hanson said.
The opening four minutes of the game were fairly even, but then UBC went on their first of many runs, prompting a York timeout. Another steal for UBC immediately afterwards put them up 21-10. York finally got some points back as Doug Plumb (Pitt Meadows, BC) picked up a blocking foul and Isaac made both free throws. He drew several fouls to help keep York down by just 7 at the end of the first quarter. Tommy Nixon got off to a strong start for the Thunderbirds, scoring 9 of his teams 28 points in the first and dishing out 2 assists.
York closed the gap to 4 points with five minutes to go in the half, but UBC forced many turnovers and went on a 19-8 run to finish the half with a 57-42 lead. Kamen and Isaac lead their teams into halftime with 14 points apiece.
The Lions got themselves into serious foul trouble in the third. Isaac picked up his fourth personal foul just three minutes into the second half and sat out the rest of the quarter. Still, the Lions cut UBC's lead to 9 and the score was 60-51 with 6:10 to go. UBC's Geoff Pippus (Colorado Springs, CO) was electrifying off the bench, going 5-6 from behind the 3-point arch and totalling 19 points on the night. He began a flurry of 3-pointers by the Thunderbirds in the third. Those combined with back-to-back steals built the Thunderbirds an 84-59 lead. The Lions were looking reckless and UBC took full advantage, finishing the quarter with a buzzer beater and a 31 point lead.
“We're trying to get a little bit more penetration and kick and tell the guys to shoot a few more three's. We shot a lot tonight, probably the most 3's we've attempted in a long time, and it resulted in us scoring more points than we normally score as well,” said Hanson.
The two teams mostly traded baskets in the fourth, with the Thunderbirds winning 120-84 at the final whistle.
Despite that the Thunderbirds forced 24 turnovers, Hanson wasn't very happy with his team's defence, commenting that “As a coach you're always looking for the negative things you need to improve upon, and I wasn't very happy with our defence actually. Obviously I was happy with the way we got up and ran up and down the floor. Our transition offensively was good but our defensive transition was bad.”
The exhibition game served as a great opportunity for Hanson to give all his players quality time on the floor. “We're trying to get some guys some confidence. I'm very happy that every guy got lots of time,” he said.
The only notable absence in the game was Jared Casey (Maple Ridge, BC), who usually starts at center. The fifth-year veteran got hit in the head earlier this week and showed minor concussion symptoms, so for precautionary reasons did not play tonight. “It would've been nice to give him some time too, but he's still a little bit woozy,” said Hanson.
The Thunderbirds have a lot of young players and new faces this season. Hanson was particularly impressed with his rookies. “There were times when some of our best lines were our freshmen on the floor, I was really happy. Isiah Soloman in particular came out and sparked us in the first quarter. Defensively he's really good, and very mature for a freshman,” he said.
Up next for the Thunderbirds is a pair of exhibition games against Ontario teams. They will host McMaster University on Thursday night and Lakehead University on Saturday. Both games will tip-off at 7 p.m. at War Memorial Gym.
