The University of British Columbia Athletics

 
Vancouver – The UBC Thunderbirds were in good position early on Friday night in Kamloops, with Thompson Rivers' star guard Ta'Quan Zimmerman missing most of the first half due to foul trouble, but a well-rounded effort by the home side was enough to sink the T-Birds 78-65.
 
Zimmerman, who came into the game red hot and among league scoring leaders, was limited to only two first-half minutes after picking up two fouls in the first couple minutes of play. He finished with six points in 20 minutes for the game. But big efforts by point guard Reese Pribilsky and forward Josh Wolfram were enough to fluster the T-Birds on both ends of the floor.
 
Pribilsky was a particularly pesky two-way threat, with a line of 12 points, five assists and five steals. He was a big part of forcing 23 UBC turnovers and earning a +9 turnover margin for the WolfPack.
 
Wolfram scored 11 of his team-high 15 points in the first half, giving the WolfPack an important offensive outlet with Zimmerman on the bench. He also added six rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot, helping to keep the UBC offence out of sync.
 
The T-Birds had a solid rebounding advantage, but it didn't overcome their turnover troubles, or being held under 40 percent field goal shooting for the third straight game.
 
Tonner Jackson had eight rebounds and scored 22 points on 7-for-13 shooting, getting to the foul line consistently as well.
 
But a big part of the problem for UBC was just a lack of available personnel. In addition to the key players they've been missing all season due to injuries, the 'Birds got just 12 minutes off the bench from usual starting point guard Jordan Jensen-Whyte, who also injured his ankle during a game last week against Trinity Western.
 
David Wagner was limited to two points in 22 minutes due to foul trouble, and Brylle Kamen's minutes are also limited right now as he works his way back to full health, so rookies Harpreet Randhawa and Kedar Wright were forced into bigger action.
 
Both made some important contributions, with Randhawa pulling down seven rebounds and adding two blocks and six points, and Wright chipping in seven points and four boards, but the T-Birds were never able to hit their stride as a team with so many key players unavailable.
 
Andrew McGuinness was the other main bright spot for the 'Birds in addition to Jackson. He played a team-high 37 minutes and scored 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting, including a pair of threes. The rest of the team struggled from the perimeter, hitting on three of 14 attempts from behind the arc.
 
TRU improves to 3-2 on the year, while the T-Birds fall to 2-3. These teams get back together on Saturday night for round two in Kamloops. Tipoff is at 7 p.m., and the game can be seen on canadawest.tv.
 
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