VANCOUVER – The University of California, Riverside Highlanders pulled away from the UBC Thunderbirds in the fourth quarter to leave War Memorial Gym with an 88-77 victory in a non-conference game on Thursday night.
"The first half was a little sloppy and a little bit emotional," said UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson, whose team lost
Conor Morgan (Victoria, BC) this week because of a stress fracture. "I was really pleased with the second and third quarters.
Â
"Playing nine guys, fatigue was a little bit of a factor this early."
Â
BOX SCORE
Â
The two teams battled back and forth for most of the game and it looked like UBC was poised to make a late run when
Andrew McGuinness (North Vancouver, BC) hit a desperation turnaround three-pointer with one second left on the shot clock and 7:48 remaining in the game to cut UC Riverside's lead to 62-59, igniting an already raucous crowd of 1,159 people.
Â
But the Highlanders immediately answered with a Chris Patton layup just 17 seconds later. That bucket was the start of an 11-2 Riverside run that UBC could not overcome. The Thunderbirds never got closer than within nine points of the visitors after Charles Standifer made it 73-61 with 4:47 to go in the fourth.
Â
Patton ended the night with a game-high 29 points and 10 rebounds. In total, UBC surrendered 60 points in the paint tonight.
Â
Hanson was complimentary of Patton's play.
Â
"I don't think we had one guy who could guard him so we tried double-teaming him on the high side, low side," he said. "We tried a bunch of different tactics to get the ball out of his hands but he was a just horse.
Â
"He hurt us and that opened up some things. Then we took some chances once we got down."
Â
David Wagner (Kamloops, BC) led UBC with 20 points and nine rebounds while
Tommy Nixon (Vancouver, BC) had 16 points and nine boards.
Â
McGuinness, in his first game in a T-Birds uniform, chipped in with 14 points.
Â
MBB: UBC vs. UC Riverside (Sep. 6, 2013) Gallery
The score was 39-39 at the half and UBC came out strong in the third, taking a five-point lead (46-41) on the strength of five points from McGuinness and a jumper from Wagner.
Â
Riverside reversed the momentum with a 15-4 run over a 5:02 span that was finally broken by a
Tonner Jackson (Surrey, BC) layup that cut the Highlanders' lead to 56-52 going into the final quarter.
Â
Riverside opened the game strong, building an 11-point lead in the opening period before UBC evened things up in the second thanks to Wagner, who scored 10 points in the quarter.
Â
The Thunderbirds hit 23 of their 60 shots from the field on Thursday night while the Highlanders shot 53 percent (35-66). UBC was nearly perfect from the foul line make 27 of 31 attempts from the charity stripe.
      Â
"I'm proud of the work ethic," said Hanson. "The guys did work hard."
Â
"We're not going to stand for a mediocre effort on the floor so we're going to be a hard-nosed team this year and we're going back to the table to get after it. It's a great start to the season, we've had some good practices, too bad about injuries but that's part of the game. We're going to move ahead with what we've got and continue to improve."
Â
It will be nearly a month before the team's next game, Oct. 3 against the Seattle Mountaineers club squad at War Memorial Gym.
Â
-30-
