VANCOUVER – The 10th-ranked UBC Thunderbirds held off a late charge from the No. 8 Calgary Dinos to earn an 83-76 triumph on Friday night in southern Alberta.
 
After losing their first game of the Canada West men's basketball schedule, the Thunderbirds have now won six straight. Calgary is 4-3.
 
Calgary native Jordan Jensen-Whyte was impressive in front of family and friends as he finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, including critical free throws in the fourth quarter, as Calgary tried to come back in the game.
 
"It was a good run by Calgary and I was just happy to get the W," Jensen-Whyte said. "Both teams played really hard and I'm happy to come out to my hometown and have a good game like that for myself."
 
Jensen-Whyte was one of four T-Birds in double-figures. David Wagner (Kamloops, B.C.) had 18, Phil Jalalpoor (Shifferstadt, Germany) scored 15 and Will Ondrik (Vernon, B.C.) finished with 10.
 
The Thunderbirds used their height on the glass, dominating the rebounding battle by a margin of 50-33, while also holding Calgary to just 4-20 shooting from three-point territory.
 
"We came out and the guys did a great job on the boards and we're hoping to keep that up for tomorrow," Jensen-Whyte said.
 
It was still just a four-point UBC lead at 55-51 going into the fourth, but a Wagner layup made it a 10-point lead with seven minutes remaining.
 
The visitors stayed in control and pushed the lead to 13 with just a 2:34 left in the game, but the Dinos would not go away.
 
Thomas Cooper, who finished with a game-high 31 points, hit consecutive buckets to make it 74-65, but Jensen-Whyte hit two more free throws shortly after.
 
David Kapinga and Cooper then had consecutive three-point plays and with 1:37 left, it was 76-71, however Jensen-Whyte responded again with a layup at 1:18.
 
A Jasdeep Gill three with 23 seconds left once again made it a five-point game at 81-76, but Calgary didn't score again.
 
Along with Cooper's 31, David Kapinga came off the bench with a strong game for Calgary, scoring 11 points and adding six steals, while Gill scored 13.
 
The road win for UBC comes one week after sweeping the Saskatchewan Huskies in Saskatoon and the squad now sits atop the Pioneer Division.
 
"It's coming together and we're starting to get on a roll," Jensen-Whyte said. "There's obviously some things we need to fine-tune, but these wins are good for the confidence of the young guys, veterans are stepping up and it's really great for the whole team."
 
The Thunderbirds will play for the sweep of the Dinos on Saturday at 6 p.m. PT at Calgary's Jack Simpson Gymnasium.
 
UBC will host the CIS Men's Basketball Final 8 March 17-20 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Tournament packages are on sale now.