VANCOUVER - The No. 2 UBC Thunderbirds have officially secured a playoff spot, and now they turn their attention to locking down top spot in the Pacific Division as they gear up for the last three series of the regular season. The team's two fifth-year seniors,
Doug Plumb and
O'Brian Wallace, along with their families will be honoured in post-game festivities on Saturday night. Both games will be live-streamed at
CanadaWest.tv.
GAME TIMES (both games at War Memorial Gym)
Friday, Feb. 1
8 p.m. - Mt. Royal at No. 2 UBC
Saturday, Feb. 2
7 p.m. - Mt. Royal at No. 2 UBC
No. 2 UBC Thunderbirds (14-2)
Last Week: W 63-61, W 81-66 at UBC Okanagan
Last Friday's tilt with the 2-15 UBCO Heat was a much closer shave than the T-Birds were hoping for, but with a few players battling the flu bug during their road trip, they'll be happy to have the two wins regardless of how pretty they were.
David Wagner was the hero in that game, scoring both the tying basket and buzzer-beating game-winner. He totalled 44 points and 14 rebounds in the series, as his offence continues to trend upward very quickly in his sophomore season. He is now second in team scoring with 11.6 points per game, and his 55 per cent shooting from the floor has him fifth in Canada West field goal percentage.
Another player who has been looking better and better as the season rolls along is third-year transfer
Brylle Kamen. After battling through some nagging injuries early on, Kamen has been an absolute force on the glass since mid-November, recording two 21-rebound games and leading the conference with 10.8 boards per game.
His offence is also coming along nicely, with both his scoring total and shooting percentage rising steadily since the start of the season. He's now tied for third in team scoring with senior guard
O'Brian Wallace at 11.3 points.
Doug Plumb is the team's leading scorer, averaging 16.3 points with great efficiency, shooting just over 52 per cent. The fifth-year senior is contributing nicely in all aspects of the game, adding six rebounds per game and leading the team with 3.3 assists and 2.1 steals.
Mount Royal Cougars (3-13)
Last Week: L 84-78, L 86-69 at Trinity Western
The Cougars are an undersized squad, and while their guards have done a good job of running down long rebounds to compensate for that as much as possible, they are one of the weakest rebounding teams in the conference this season and haven't been able to overcome that flaw.
Only two players on the roster are listed at 6'6” or taller, and neither of them play very much. Senior forward Nick Loewen leads the team with 7.4 rebounds per game, and after him its 6'1” guard Deng Awak, who pulls down an impressive 6.6 boards despite the size disadvantage. He is coming off back to back 10 rebound performances.
And when they do grab rebounds, the Cougars have still had a lot of trouble doing anything productive with the ball this year. They are near the bottom of the table in scoring efficiency, with Loewen and Awet Abraha the only two players averaging double digits. Both are shooting below 40 per cent from the field.
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