VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds survived an anemic offensive first half to come back and take down the Fraser Valley Cascades 68-61 on Friday night in the first Canada West semifinal at War Memorial Gym, earning a spot in the conference title game and the CIS Final Eight.
The teams were tied heading into the fourth quarter, and found themselves tied up again at 57 with just over two minutes to go when
Isaiah Solomon hit one of the key shots of the game, going off glass from deep two-point range on a heavily-contested heave as the shot clock expired.
MBB: T-Birds v. UFV (Mar. 1, 2013) Gallery
After UBC split chances from the free throw line on its next two trips to make it 61-57, Klaus Figueredo hit a clutch three for the Cascades to make it a one-point game heading into the final minute. But after two
Doug Plumb free throws made it 63-60, the Cascades couldn't get another miracle three to fall.
“At the end of the game we had two freshman on the floor in Isaiah and Connor (Morgan),” said UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson. “They hit some big shots, made some plays and hit some free throws. I'm just really pleased with the way these young guys went in and played.”
After falling behind by as many as 13 points in the first half thanks to a barrage of Fraser Valley threes, the T-Birds battled their way back into a tie at 44 in the third quarter. They finished on a 9-3 run, which Morgan capped off with a steal and a trip to the foul line, to get the season-high crowd at War Memorial energized.
That energy seemed to be a difference-maker between the teams, who both struggled to score in their half-court sets, but traded scoring bursts off hustle plays like turnovers and offensive rebounds. Fraser Valley had a 10-2 advantage in points off turnovers in the first half, but the 'Birds reversed that in the second, outscoring the Cascades 11-3 off turnovers the rest of the way.
“Great experience for our guys. What a wonderful crowd tonight. They absolutely pumped us up and I think the sixth man really helped us tonight,” said Hanson
The Cascades also went cold from long range in the second half, hitting just two of 10 shots after the break. Hanson said his team knew to expect a three-point assault from the Cascades even though they were missing their star senior Sam Freeman.
“That's what they do. They shoot threes. Last time they played us they hit 16 and that's what we tried to eliminate from them. We wanted to make (Kyle) Grewal have to hurt us,” Hanson said.
That strategy seemed to pay off for the 'Birds, as Grewal did lead the Cascades with 14 points, but UBC held Fraser Valley's senior big man to 6-26 field goal shooting and forced four turnovers from him.
Speedy second-year guard Kevon Parchment was the most effective player on the court for the Cascades, grabbing 13 rebounds and adding 13 points on 5-11 shooting. He also had three steals.
Hanson was impressed by the way the Cascades came out so strong even without Freeman.
“It's real tough. I feel bad for him as a fifth-year kid not being able to play in that last game because he's a heck of a basketball player and it's unfair his career ended that way, but give them credit for playing very good basketball today. In the end we just made a couple more plays than they did.”
Tommy Nixon led UBC with 18 points, doing much of his damage from the free throw line, where the 'Birds had a big advantage in the game. The Cascades went just 4-8 from the line, while UBC hit 20-29 free throws.
Plumb stuffed the stats sheet in just about every category, giving UBC 15 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists.
UBC now moves on to face the winner of the Victoria-Winnipeg semifinal game on Saturday at 8 p.m. The Cascades will play the loser at that game for Canada West bronze at 6 p.m. All games are at UBC's War Memorial Gym.
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