VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball team was victorious in Game 2 against Northwest Christian, topping the Beacons 80-66 after dropping Friday's contest in overtime.
 
The T-Birds were down 16-13 after the first quarter – but stayed within striking distance before pulling ahead 19-18 on a Jordan Jensen-Whyte drive in the second frame. The 'Birds held the Beacons to just eight points in the second quarter and had a 13-point cushion 37-24 at the half.
 
Conor Morgan went down hard in the first half and left the game favouring his shoulder, but came out hot to start the third – nailing a long two just 10 seconds in and finishing strong at the rim with a layup.             

"I took a little shot there in the second quarter, but I'm alright. I had to warm the cannon up a little bit," said Morgan, who finished with his second straight 27-point performance and was a rebound away from a double-double with nine boards on the night.

#UBC takes down @GoBEACONS 80-66 to close out a chippy double dip @ubctbirds #GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/H06Yg4fUZc

— Aneesa Heatherington (@aheatherington9) November 13, 2016

UBC head coach Kevin Hanson was relieved to see his veteran forward return to play in the second half.
 
"It was a little scary…he looks sore right now so hopefully he'll be ok for next week. Conor took us on his back tonight, but we had three good defensive quarters. I thought we dictated the tempo a lot better than we did last night. Overall, I'm really happy with how our team showed maturity by coming out and having a much stronger game."
 
Phil Jalalpoor had another solid game for the Thunderbirds, putting up 15 points, five assists and two steals in the win. UBC improved to 80 per cent from the free throw line and scored 26 points off turnovers, while picking up 14 more points in the paint than the NAIA visitors.
 
Hanson says his squad is looking forward to returning to league play next weekend, as UBC will host Manitoba in a doubleheader at War Memorial Gym.