VANCOUVER – An impressive 21-point night for Conor Morgan (Victoria, B.C.) helped the UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball team secure their first non-conference win of the season against the visiting Guelph Gryphons. The 79-68 victory didn't come easy, as both teams fought tooth and nail in their first matchups of the 2015 UBC Invitational, hosted at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. 

It was the first UBC basketball game ever played in the venue.

Defence dominated the opening minutes of the first quarter with both teams shutting down a majority of the others' early chances. The score remained tied at 5-5 until a layup from UBC's Patrick Simon (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) at the five-minute mark started a trend of steady back and forth scoring.
 
A nifty passing play between UBC's Philip Jalalpoor (Shifferstadt, Germany) and Simon at the 4:36 mark pushed the Thunderbirds to a 9-5 lead. Guelph quickly responded with a pair of layups from Drew Walford and Kingsley D'Silva, helping the Gryphons chip into the lead for the first time.
 
The final minutes of the first quarter saw solid defensive efforts from both sides. A highlight-worthy spinning jump shot from A. J. Halloway (Tacoma, Wash.), immediately followed by a huge dunk from Morgan, wasn't enough to get an edge over Guelph, as the game remained tied 16-all at the end of the first quarter.
 
Following a layup from David Wagner (Kamloops, B.C.), UBC found their footing and took hold of the lead early in the second quarter. Jordan Jensen-Whyte's (Calgary) efforts to squeeze past the Guelph defence and find Dominic Gilbert (Sydney, Australia) resulted in the Thunderbird's first three-pointer of the night.
 
Guelph responded to the pressure with a dunk by Adam Kemp and a layup from Jack Beatty closing the gap to 26-29, but couldn't overtake the Thunderbirds midway through the second.  Luka Zaharijevic (Vancouver) widened UBC's lead to double digits with a layup in the closing minute of the second quarter.
 
The teams returned from the break bent on preventing go-ahead ponts, as each only recorded four points up until the 4:22 mark. The mid-game scoring draught ended with a pair of successful free throws from Guelph's Jonathan Wallace.  Back-to-back three-point efforts from Will Ondrik (Vernon, B.C.) and Morgan, who combined for a total 33 points, helped the Thunderbirds secure a 56-46 lead heading into the final quarter.
 
UBC's Simon provided some breathing room after sinking a three-pointer and immediately following it up with two more a few seconds later. Patrick's efforts vaulted the Thunderbird's to a 15-point lead with six minutes left in the game.
 
The lead was short-lived as Guelph's Taylor Boers drained stellar back-to-back three pointers, putting the Gryphons within five with less than two minutes to go. The silenced home crowd felt a communal sigh of relief after a layup from Zaharijcvic and a bucket and foul shot from Ondrik reclaimed a 10-point lead for UBC with only 20 seconds left.
 
The Thunderbirds were able to hold off the steady pressure of the Gryphons and walked away with a 79-68 victory.
 
The 'Birds will look for a second win on tomorrow night when they face Ottawa at 7 p.m. (PT). The Gryphons will look for redemption when they take on UNBC at 3 p.m. (PT).
 
Both games will take place on Saturday, October 3 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre as part of the UBC Invitational. The second game of the day will see Alberta face Memorial at 5 p.m.