VANCOUVER - For the second night in a row, the UBC Thunderbirds beat out rivals the UBC Okanagan Heat in a 85-77 win that moved them closer to securing a playoff spot.
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Tommy Nixon had a 25-point, seven-rebound performance to lead the home team while teammates
Andrew McGuinness and Harpreet Randahawa scored 18 and 14 points, respectively.
Yassine Ghomari scored 20 for the Kelowna visitors.
Mitch Goodwin of the Heat came out all guns blazing and did not miss a shot in the opening frame. Be it from beyond the arc, at the free-throw line or a jumper in the paint, he could not miss and racked up seven points in the first quarter.
Andrew McGuinness also started with the hot hand, he parked himself on the baseline and knocked down three early corner three-pointers.
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UBC led by two points after 10 minutes, but both teams were guilty of eight turnovers.
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The second quarter started with a 14-5 run by the Thunderbirds and they reached their highest lead of the night, an 11-point margin. A couple more long-range jumpers from McGuinness had UBC rolling along nicely. Heat head coach Pete Guarasci called a timeout and looked to stem the flow of points. His team answered back in the best way possible and closed the quarter with a 7-0 run of their own. The score read 37-33 at the half in UBC's favour.
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Coming out of the intermission, UBCO closed the gap to two points straight away with a jumper from Stuart Wallensteen. The margin between the two teams stayed tight for the next five minutes and the Heat got themselves to within one point with 3:30 remaining in the third quarter on a Goodwin jumper.
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That was to be the closest they would come however. Nixon scored the game's next eight points, capped off by back-to-back three-point plays from the foul line, to put his team up 56-47.
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The Heat made a late charge, getting to within one possessions five different times in the final quarter but could never tie the game or take the lead. A pair of Ghomari free throws with 7:07 left in the fourth got the Heat to within two points, but UBC immediately replied with eight straight points, including six from the charity stripe, to seal the win.
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Graduating senior
Michael Steele was handed the start in his penultimate home game for the Thunderbirds. Subbed back into the game with just over a minute remaining in the fourth quarter, he was given a warm sendoff by the home fans. Steele was also honoured in a short ceremony within the locker room after the game; the fifth-year is due to graduate this spring from the Sauder School of Business.
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"Credit to them, they played very well tonight. I was happy with our execution and our defense was good down the stretch," said UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson. "It was a tough, tough game that went down to the wire. Harp (
Harpreet Randhawa) came in and I thought he was the difference in this game."
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Hanson was pleased to pick up another win in the final weeks of the season and was glowing in his tributes to the leaving Steele.
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"Mike's been here two years. He's been a wonderful person to coach. He doesn't always get a lot of minutes, but he's never been late to a single practice, he's never given us a bit of grief. He's been an outstanding citizen and a wonderful ambassador for UBC as well as being an academic All-Canadian. He's the epitome of a perfect teammate for these guys and we're certainly going to miss that."
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UBC move to 11-9 on the season and can secure a playoff spot with two wins over Victoria. It is possible for them to lose one or both games next weekend and still qualify for the postseason but it all depends on other results going their way. Two wins would guarantee a trip to the Canada West quarter-finals.
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UBC Okanagan (3-17) will finish off the regular season with a home-and-home series against regional rivals Thompson Rivers next weekend.
