VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds survived a three-point attempt at the buzzer from the top marksman in the conference to win the Canada West title 72-69 over the Victoria Vikes on Saturday at War Memorial Gym.
After
O'Brian Wallace split his free throw attempts with 8.2 seconds left to leave a sliver of hope in sight for the Vikes, Michael Acheampong pushed the ball up court off the inbound and found Brandon Dunlop with a pass across the arc, with about a second left to shoot. Dunlop led the conference with a .519 clip from three this season, but his shot at the buzzer was just a little short, giving UBC the Canada West title.
Did UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson have time in that split second to consider it was Canada West-leading Dunlop taking that shot for the tie?
“When the ball was in the air, I most certainly did,” said Hanson, adding that he'd already begun thinking about the possibility of overtime when the shot went up.
The 'Birds are only a few games removed from Dunlop dropping a season-high 24 on them when his Vikes beat the 'Birds in Victoria, but Hanson's team held the Vikes to 22 per cent three-point shooting on Saturday.
Two of Victoria's four three-pointers came from an extremely unlikely source. Big man Chris McLaughlin was just 3-26 from three-point range in the regular season, but he hit two on Saturday against the 'Birds, including a huge shot with 9.1 seconds left to bring his side with two points of the lead, setting up that last-second attempt at the tie.
But UBC's seniors were too much down the stretch for the Vikes comeback effort to succeed.
O'Brian Wallace had two key steals in the last minute of play to keep the 'Birds on top, and
Doug Plumb had one of his best games as a 'Bird in his final home game with the team, dropping a game-high 22 points on 7-8 shooting, adding nine rebounds and five assists.
“Every year I say how your fifth-year guys have to be good for you down the stretch. We don't have a lot of those guys, but Doug played great for us today,” said Hanson.
McLaughlin was the main man for Victoria in their semifinal win over Winnipeg with a 23 point, 15 rebound effort, and he started even hotter against UBC, scoring the first nine points for his team including a three-pointer from the top of the arc.
That helped his team get out to an early 11-4 lead, but McLaughlin also picked up his second foul before the first quarter was even half over. That forced him to sit for the rest of the half, allowing the 'Birds to fight their way back in front.
UBC took advantage of the extra space around the basket by forcing their way into the lane for easy buckets or fouls. A 10-2 run spanning the late first and early second quarters put the 'Birds in front, with eight of those points coming at the free throw line for UBC.
Doug Plumb led the 'Birds on another 9-0 run later in the second quarter to inflate the lead to 10 by halftime.
“He had nine points in the first four minutes, getting position on us and he totally exploited us. Getting that second foul on him was key. We wanted to attack their bigs and get them in foul trouble,” Hanson said. “That second quarter was big for us with him on the bench.”
McLaughlin finished with 21 points, four steals and six rebounds in only 22 minutes of action. Dunlop and Terrell Evans both chipped in 12 points for the Vikes as well.
The win came in front of a season-high crowd of 2488 at War Memorial Gym. Hanson gave a nod to the extra energy his team took from the crowd to come back from a 13-point deficit in the semifinals, and said it made the gold medal win even more memorable.
“You play all season to get this home court, and it's absolutely a lifelong memory you have when you win a Canada West championship in your home gym in front of two of the best crowds we've had here in years.”
UBC got 13 points from
Tommy Nixon and 10 from
Jordan Jensen-Whyte.
Brylle Kamen added eight points and seven boards, and playing his usual tough low post defence to keep Victoria under 40 per cent shooting from the field.
