VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball team opened the 2014 calendar year with an 82-75 loss to the NCAA Division II Hawaii Pacific University Sea Warriors in non-conference action in Honolulu tonight.
BOX SCORE
The Thunderbirds never lead in the game but managed to tie the game twice in the second half. Second-year guard
Jordan Jensen-Whyte stole the ball from HPU's Farbod Farman and converted on a layup to even the score at 60-60 with eight minutes and 36 seconds to go in the second half.
Then with 4:12 left in the game,
Andrew McGuinness hit his seventh and final three-point shot of the night to even the score at 67-67.
But HPU replied both times with a three-pointer from Justin Long, who ended the night with a game-high 35 points, to reclaim the advantage.
Tommy Nixon's layup with 2:05 left allowed UBC to get within a point of HPU at 71-70 but the host Sea Warriors answered with a 9-0 run over a span of 1:23, with Long providing seven of those points, to clinch the win. HPU also went 5-for-5 from the foul line in the last 40 seconds.
The first half played out in similar fashion. HPU went up only to be forced to fight off a determined UBC squad. The Sea Warriors opened the game on a 9-2 run but the 'Birds replied with one of their own, capped off by a shot from distance by
Conor Morgan, to tie the game at 11-11.
HPU bounced right back, a 12-2 run pushed the lead to double figures, capped by another three-pointer by Long. About a minute later, the Sea Warriors took their largest lead of the contest at 26-14. But UBC outscored the home team 14-8 to go into halftime trailing by four points.
UBC shot 35.8 percent from the field but was better from behind the arc, going 11-for-28 (39.3 per cent) in three-point opportunities. The T-Birds also made 16 of their 22 shots from the foul line.
McGuinness ended the night with 25 points, on 7-for-13 shooting from long range, to lead all UBC players. He also recorded a team-high eight rebounds. McGuinness' seven three-pointers was one off the school record, which is jointly held by Nathan Yu (Nov. 25, 2011) and Pasha Bains (Jan. 20, 2006).
Morgan recorded 13 points and three blocks in his first game of the season.
Tonner Jackson chipped in with 11 points.
It was the first time all season that UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson has every player on his roster active for a game as rookie forward
Luka Zaharijevic also saw action tonight.
The team will scrimmage Thursday night against a Hawaii Selects team made up of local former college players and professionals before heading home to get ready for its first Canada West regular season games of the 2014 calendar year Jan. 10-11 against Alberta and Saskatchewan, respectively, at War Memorial Gymnasium.
