Calgary, AB – Despite UBC's troubles on the road this season, the Thunderbirds handed Mount Royal just their second loss on home court Friday evening defeating the Cougars 76-55. A strong defensive effort on the part of UBC limited the Cougars to its lowest scoring game of the season as the 'Birds gain some ground in the Canada West playoff race. UBC's
Kedar Wright led all scorers with 17 points while
David Wagner led the team with seven rebounds to go along with 16 points.
The Thunderbirds wasted no time setting the tone early as Wagner led all first quarter scorers with seven of UBC's first 11 points en route to an eight-point, 25-17 lead after one. In what has been an area of difficulty for the team this season, Friday was just the third time this season that the UBC has eclipsed the 25-point mark in its opening frame.
The road trends would not repeat itself, however, as UBC continued its strong play to start the second quarter racking up eight unanswered points to increase their lead to as much as 15 at one point. Turnovers and missed shots from the field put the Cougars in a sizeable hole as they managed just eight points on the board in the second quarter. At halftime the advantage was 39-25 in favour of UBC as the defense forced Mount Royal to its lowest home scoring first half of the season.
The strong play of the blue and gold would continue into the second half as the Thunderbirds put up 19 points in the third quarter to come away with a 58-35 with one quarter to play.
The Cougars would outscore the Thunderbirds by two points in the fourth quarter but with its lead as high as 21, UBC cruised it in for their sixth win of the season matching its season-high winning streak at two games.
With the win, UBC improves to 6-7 and moves into a tie for fifth with Mount Royal as the Cougars fall to an identical record of 6-7 in the tightly packed Canada West Pacific Division. UBC improves to 3-0 all time against MRU in the Cougars second season in both the Canada West and CIS.
Derek Wolf was the lone Cougar in double digits as he collected 10 points on the night while Mangk Akwl collected nine. The team's leading scorer this season, Awet Abraha, who had been averaging 20 points over his previous three games was held to just four points Friday night against the 'Birds.
The latter half of the weekend series concludes with a 6:00 pm PST game tomorrow evening. Live action provided at
canadawest.tv.
