VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball team improved to 4-1 in Canada West league play with an 81-72 road victory over the Saskatchewan Huskies in Saskatoon on Friday night.
 
Jordan Jensen-Whyte (Calgary) scored 16 of his 22 game-high points in the first half to lead the T-Birds. Conor Morgan (Victoria, B.C.) added 13 points and led UBC with five rebounds and four steals.
 
The Thunderbirds led by 11 points with just over three minutes to play, but the Huskies cut that deficit to just four (75-71) thanks to an Alex Unruh three-point basket with 1:16 remaining. But that would be as close as Saskatchewan would get as UBC's Will Ondrik (Vernon, B.C.) replied with a three ball of his own on the next possession. Morgan added three more foul shots to round out the scoring for the visitors.
 
Ondrik finished with 12 points while forward David Wagner (Kamloops, B.C.) was the fourth UBC player in double digits, as he recorded 10 points.
 
The T-Birds improved to 4-1 with its fourth straight victory. The Huskies are now 1-4.
 
An entertaining back-and-forth contest saw UBC pull ahead late in the second quarter with an 11-0 surge. Saskatchewan led 30-29 with 4:15 left before halftime, but Thunderbirds guard A. J. Holloway (Tacoma, Wash.) replied with four straight points – two on free throws and two on a jumper with 3:48 to go – to spark the run.
 
Jensen-Whyte nailed a long-distance shot while guard Taylor Browne (Surrey, B.C.) added a jumper as UBC went up by double digits for the first time in the game. Saskatchewan didn't regain the lead after the run from UBC, but the hosts stayed close as a Mack Burns putback dunk at the buzzer closed the Thunderbirds advantage to 44-38.
 
But any momentum from that Burns dunk was quickly extinguished by UBC as they extended the lead to 11 in the opening minutes of the third on a Wagner basket inside.
 
The UBC lead hovered around the 10-point margin until the late run from Saskatchewan in the fourth, which the T-Birds fought off. 
 
Mack Burns tallied up 12 points on the night to go along with five rebounds, four steals and a pair of blocks. Alex Burns and Chan De Ciman each chipped in with 10 points off the bench for the Huskies.
 
The two-teams meet again tomorrow night in Saskatoon. The tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. PT.
 
- with files from Saskatchewan Sports Information