The University of British Columbia Athletics

VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball team succumbed to a strong Alberta outfit 80-67 in the third and final game of their Canada West quarter-final series. The Thunderbirds troubled Alberta all the way through the weekend and were not far away from pulling off another miraculous comeback to beat the Golden Bears.

BOX SCORE

Kedar Wright continued his incredible, debut playoff appearance with a three-pointer to open the scoring.
 
As with the first two games of the series, it was UBC that enjoyed the better of the opening quarter. The Thunderbirds quickly jumped out to a 12-3 lead, Wright's triple as well as one from Tommy Nixon and some good transition play by Jordan Jensen-Whyte gave the team some breathing room.
 
It was short-lived however. Alberta came storming back with a run of their own. A 15-3 run pulled them back ahead only for Wright to drain another three-pointer to stem the flow. UBC ended the first period down by just one point and it was obvious they were going to push the No. 3-ranked Golden Bears all the way.  
 
Alberta's Joel Friesen, who went for 25 points on Friday but was limited to just six in Saturday's game, hit a big shot from downtown to separate the two teams early in the second quarter. This sparked another Alberta run and they would pull 10 points ahead towards the end of the half before a few trips to the free-throw line kept UBC just seven points adrift (36-29) when the halftime buzzer went.
 
Thunderbird coach Kevin Hanson's players came back onto the court ready to play and were soon closing the gap. Back to back three-pointers from Nixon and Isaiah Solomon brought UBC back to within three points to start the third quarter. The 'Birds drew level and then ahead courtesy of Solomon, who was putting together a very tidy performance at the point. His jumper with 3:40 to go in the third quarter put UBC up 47-46.
 
Harpreet Randhawa, Tommy Nixon and Brylle Kamen flirted with foul trouble all game and coach Hanson was forced to go further down his already depleted bench, which was without forward David Wagner. Alberta took advantage of this and clawed their way back to an eight-point lead to head into the final quarter.
 
Despite UBC having to revert to a smaller lineup due to the foul trouble their bigs were on, they continued to frustrate Jordan Baker, one of the conference's premier players. It was a difficult weekend for Baker who averaged 17.6 points during the regular season. Yet another staunch defensive effort by the Thunderbirds held him to just seven points tonight.
 
The Golden Bears stretched their lead to 12 points with just seven minutes remaining before Nixon knocked down another long-range effort to keep UBC in the game. Youssef Ouahrig matched Nixon's shot immediately with a three-pointer of his own to keep the lead at 12 points.
 
Nixon continued to make his way to the charity stripe as he had done all weekend. He was 8-for-8 this evening and made 24 of 26 over the series. All of a sudden the Thunderbirds were back within eight and looked perfectly poised to make a charge for the lead in the final few minutes.
 
UBC did not get the same dream ending they were able to deliver last night and were desperately trying to replicate. Nixon fouled out with two minutes to play and that enabled the Golden Bears to wind the clock down and secure the win and their right to host the Canada West Final Four tournament.
 
Nixon ended the tilt with a game-high 21 points and frontcourt teammate Brylle Kamen recorded a double-double as their season ended in defeat in Edmonton.
 
It was the final game for UBC's Michael Steele, who is due to graduate this spring from the Sauder School of Commerce after two dutiful years with the men's basketball program. Everyone else on the roster is eligible to return next season.