Ottawa, ON - Led by the hot hand of Tyler Scott, the Acadia Axemen defeated the UBC Thunderbirds 89-80 Friday night in the quarterfinals of the CIS nationals at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, ON. Scott led all scorers with 29 points shooting 7-for-8 from behind the arc.
BOX SCORE
The loss was overshadowed late in the fourth quarter, when fifth year guard
Doug Plumb was taken off the court on a stretcher. The Second Team All Canadian hit is head off the floor with 3:32 left in the game, suffering a gash above his eye and was knocked out. He was coherent and taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons.
MBB: T-Birds v. Acadia (Mar. 8, 2013) Gallery
UBC was down eight at the break, but came out in the second half firing on all cylinders going on an 11-2 run over the first three minutes. Back to back three pointers by
Isaiah Solomon and Plumb got UBC within one and then
Brylle Kamen gave UBC their first lead since being up 10-7 early in the first quarter, putting the 'Birds ahead 42-41. Unfortunately, it would be their last lead of the night. Tyler Scott broke a 43-43 tie with his fifth three pointer of the evening and big man Owen Klassen and Anthony Ashe added back to back buckets to give the Axemen a seven point lead after three quarters.
O'Brian Wallace did his best to keep UBC in the game in the fourth quater hitting his sixth three pointer of the night to cut the lead to 75-70. However, the 'Birds couldn't build off the momentum and the Axemen continued to hit clutch shots down the stretch to keep UBC in check. Anthony Ashe hit a pair of jumpers with
Tommy Nixon in his face to put the game out of reach, as Acadia went on to the 89-80 victory.
"I thought it was one of our worst defensive games," said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson. "Our goal was to keep them under 70 points. In 11 of our last 12 games we've kept teams under 70 points, but it just seems when we comeback to this tournament teams light us up. They are very talented team. I give them full credit."
Scott finished the game 10-12 from the floor with 29 points, leading all scorers.
O'Brian Wallace led UBC with 26 points and seven rebounds.
Brylle Kamen had 16 points and six boards.
Acadia advances to Saturday's semi-final against the winner of the Carleton, while UBC moves into the consolation round and will take on Victoria in a rematch of the Canada West Final at 11:00 am PST.
UBC got off to a good start in this game taking an early 10-7 lead, but a
12-0 run in the opening quarter would prove to be the difference as Acadia led by Tyler Scott went ahead 21-14 after the first quarter of play. Scott scored 13 points in the quarter, shooting a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor including three 3 pointers.
UBC struggled to get an offensive cohesion turning the ball over nine times and shooting just 32% from the floor in the first half.
Acadia extended their lead to 11 early in the second quarter thanks to Scott who continued to reign down three pointers nailing one from NBA distance. UBC would quickly cut into the lead as O'Brian Wallace hit back to back three pointers to make it a 31-26. However, an Anthony Sears converted hoop and harm and an Owen Klassen three ball kept it a nine point cushion for the Axemen.
Brylle Kamen did is part down load, chipping in with 10 points in the opening half to keep UBC within eight points at the break. O'Brian Wallace had a team high 14 points in the first half.
Thunderbirds Second Team All-Canadian Doug Plumb picked up his second foul early in the second quarter and only would play 11 minutes in the first half scoring just two points.
UBC shot 40.9% from the floor compared to Acadia who shot 46.9%.
