VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds lost 83-70 in the finale of the 40th Annual Tom Byron Classic men's basketball tournament in Santa Barbara, Calif., to the host Westmont Warriors on Wednesday night.
 
Forward Conor Morgan (Victoria, B.C.) scored 24 points and pulled down 12 rebounds and was named to the all-tournament team. Rookie guard Taylor Browne (Surrey, B.C.) chipped in with 18 points, thanks in part to his 5-of-7 shooting performance from behind the three-point arc.

With the two teams tied at 57 and just over six minutes remaining on the game clock, Jordan Jensen-Whyte (Calgary) struck from downtown to put UBC up 60-57 but it proved to be the last lead the Thunderbirds would hold as Westmont finished off the final six minutes on a 26-10 run.

A couple of early three-pointers by Cory Blau and Sean Harman, sandwiched around a layup by David Gunn, helped the Warriors get off to an 8-5 lead. However, the Thunderbirds scored the next 10 points – including back-to-back threes by Browne – to produce a 15-8 advantage with 13:55 remaining in the opening frame.

Westmont responded with a 15-3 run over the next six minutes to claim a 23-18 advantage. Jerry Karczewski and Hayden Anderson each struck from beyond the arc in that stretch. 

A layup from forward Patrick Simon (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) and a pair of free throws from Morgan brought UBC to within two points at 25-23 with 6:25 left before the halftime buzzer. Twenty seconds later, Britton Williams scored on a jumper to put Westmont up 27-23. At that point, both defences took over the game with neither team recording a field goal before intermission. A pair of successful free throws by Anderson and two more by Karczewski allowed the Warriors to take a 31-24 lead into the locker room.

Morgan knocked down a jump shot, a three-pointer and a fast-break layup to score all of UBC's points in the first 2:04 of the second half and cut the hosts' lead to 35-31. Westmont responded with a 9-0 run, which was finally stopped by a Morgan basket – to earn a 14-point advantage (47-33).

However, the Thunderbirds were not finished. Over the next two and a half minutes, UBC put together a 14-0 surge to tie the game at 47. Point guard Phil Jalalpoor (Shifferstadt, Germany) kicked-off the run with a three-point shot before Browne scored 11 unanswered points – two on a layup with 12:06 left in the game, which was followed by three consecutive buckets from beyond the arc.

After that, the teams went back and forth, leading up to Jensen-Whyte's basket with 6:05 left that made it 60-57 for the T-Birds.
 
UBC finishes the Tom Byron Classic with a 1-1 record, after a 93-71 triumph over Antelope Valley (Calif.) on Tuesday. The Thunderbirds will take a 12-4 overall record into their next game, against Hope International (Calif.) in Fullerton, Calif., on Saturday at 5 p.m.
 
Get your tournament packages to the CIS Men's Basketball Final 8, taking place March 17-20 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. 

- with files from Westmont Sports Information