Regina, SK – Conor Morgan had a career night on Saturday helping the UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball team sweep the Regina Cougars with a 84-69 win. The 6-foot-9 sophomore had a career regular season high 30 points to go along with 12 rebounds as the visiting Thunderbirds won their third straight and improve to 12-6 on the season.
 
Morgan finished the night shooting 11-for-19 from the field and 6-for-8 from the free throw line as well as dishing out four assists. Morgan's 12 rebounds were one shy of his career best set during the 2012-2013 season, his first as a Thunderbird.
 
Saturday was the fourth straight game in which Regina failed to eclipse the 70-point mark in a game, dropping their regular season record to 7-11, in the midst of a six-game losing streak.
 
A night after Tommy Nixon and Jonathan Tull stole the show; it was Morgan who went head-to-head with Jonathan's brother, Brandon, who finished the night with a season-high 25 points. Nixon, the league's leading scorer looked human Saturday putting up 13 points while Regina's Jonathan Tull had 11 points, well below his third league leading average of 20.0 points per game.
 
Nixon was hot from the line once again going 7-for-8 and extended his free-throw completion streak to 21 dating back to last weekend, before missing his fourth attempt.
 
The win helps the Thunderbirds maintain its fifth place position and keeps pace with its division rivals. Interestingly, Brandon upset Victoria on Saturday, which leaves the Pioneer Division title up for grabs as the top five teams are separated by a single game.

"It was a good weekend for us," said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson. "It is always a tough place to play well, but we managed to take care of things. It was a satisfying win as Tommy battled some foul trouble and a lot of attention in the offensive end. It was good to see other players step up and have big games. The biggest was Conor (Morgan) who had a huge night. Jordan Jensen-Whyte had a great game as well scoring nine points, 10 rebounds and adding five assists. Nice to have two of the younger guys step up like that especially on the road."

UBC busted out to a 15-7 lead in the early stages of Saturday's game, and held Regina's leading scorer Jonathan Tull to a single point in the first quarter. The Cougars drove the basket hard for the remainder of the quarter and were rewarded free throws helping to claw their way back to a 19-16 deficit after one. Six UBC players contributed points in the opening quarter led by Tonner Jackson's six points.

The T-Birds came out even hotter in the second, stamping down a 10-point lead within the first four minutes of the second quarter, going on a 17-7 run that fueled a 36-23 lead. Thanks to an eye-popping 30 points in the paint and 11-point first half's from Jackson and Morgan, the Thunderbirds entered half time with a 44-32 edge.

Regina made it interesting in the third by going on a 12-6 run to start the quarter and kept themselves within striking range by the end of the third, down 60-50. UBC's Morgan had a solid third quarter and was up to 20 points by the end of the quarter, one of three T-Birds players in double digits at that mark.

After holding the Cougars to just eight points in last night's fourth quarter, tonight's final stanza was much closer, though the Thunderbirds outscored Regina by five points and only increased its lead to finish off with a comfortable 15-point, 84-69 victory.

Jensen-Whyte had a great game on the boards grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds, and was just a point shy of a double double. UBC and Regina finished the game shooting 45.3% and 43.3%, respectively, but UBC had a whopping 34 free throw attempts (making 22 of them).

Just two games remain on the schedule for the Thunderbirds as the team returns home next weekend for a season ending series against the Manitoba Bisons, which will ultimately decide the playoff bracket. Meanwhile, Regina heads to Winnipeg for a two-game away series to close out their regular season.