VANCOUVER – The top-ranked UBC Thunderbirds survived a scare from No. 8 Fraser Valley, seeing their lead dwindle all the way down to one point late in the fourth but hanging on for the 76-71 win on Friday at War Memorial Gym.
BOX SCORE
The win keeps UBC unbeaten at 5-0 while the Cascades fall to 2-3.
Fraser Valley trailed by eight heading into the fourth, but the game was officially on when Kevon Parchment earned an and-1 just four seconds into the fourth, making it 65-60 UBC.
The T-Birds got the lead back up to eight with a Connor Morgan three, but that turned out to be their last field goal of the game, as UBC went 0-13 from the floor the rest of the way.
Fifth-year post Kyle Grewal drew UBC point guard
Isaiah Solomon's fifth foul of the game with 4:24 to go and converted an and-1 of his own to make it 70-67, and the Cascades kept clawing away until two Sam Freeman free throws made it just 72-71 UBC with 24 seconds left.
But after
O'Brian Wallace hit two free-throws for UBC,
Jordan Jensen-Whyte stole the ball from Jordan Blackmon on UFV's next possession to effectively end the comeback hopes.
MBB: T-Birds v. UFV (Nov. 16, 2012) Gallery
UBC coach
Kevin Hanson pointed to all the foul trouble his team got in as a major factor in their fourth quarter struggles.
“We got into foul trouble, and it was the first time this year we've had to juggle Jordan and Isaiah, Tommy (Nixon) and Doug (Plumb) with foul trouble,” said Hanson. “So it was a bit of a juggling act and guys got out of rhythm a little bit, trying to overdo things instead of just playing. And we did get some good looks down the stretch there too but just failed to finish.”
Hanson added that it probably isn't such a bad thing for his No. 1-ranked squad to have to deal with some early-season adversity.
“We struggled with some guys out of position, and I thought we just got played a little bit tight. But it's good for us to get a tight one like this under our belts,” Hanson said.
Plumb led the 'Birds with 17 points, 15 of those coming in the first half. In fact he picked up eight of them in just a couple minutes of the second during a 10-0 UBC run that put them up 13 points at halftime.
But eight UBC turnovers in the third quarter, and some hot shooting from Freeman and Parchment, got the Cascades right back in the game. Freeman and Parchment combined for 15 points in the third, but like almost everyone else on the court Friday, they struggled to find good shots in the fourth.
Freeman finished with a game-high 24 points on 7-of-16 shooting, adding 10 rebounds as well. Parchment had 19 points and three assists.
It was another balanced night for UBC offensively, with Wallace, Solomon and Nixon all joining Plumb in the double digit scoring club.
Despite shooting just 34 per cent from the field and turning the ball over 22 times, Hanson says all the new faces on his team are still learning to play together, and the progress is encouraging.
“At times guys look for themselves and at times they share the ball well. We're better when we share it well but we're still in a learning process, with seven guys playing their first year with us this season. And of the four guys returning, only two of them got significant minutes, so they're still getting used to playing with each other.”
The 'Birds and Cascades do battle again on Saturday, this time starting at 7 p.m.
-30-
