VICTORIA – The UBC Thunderbirds (5-0) fought off a determined UVic Vikes squad (2-5) to take an 82-69 victory and remain undefeated thus far in Canada West basketball play.

Conor Morgan was a powerhouse offensively for UBC; the fourth-year forward from Victoria scored 23 points in front of his hometown crowd. Thunderbirds captain Jordan Jensen-Whyte also had a strong game, putting in 20 points and grabbing 5 rebounds.

Wayne Tucker Jr. was the top scorer for the Vikes with 21 points on ten-for-19 shooting from the field. Grant Sitton recorded a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds and Jake Newman chipped in with twelve points.


 
A large crowd was on hand to watch the game and take part in the tenth-annual Shoot for the Cure night; over $2,230 was raised to benefit cancer research.
 
"It was nice to play in front of a big crowd, there was a good atmosphere," said Thunderbirds head coach Kevin Hanson. "UVic has always been a rival so I look forward to these games."
 
"Conor (Morgan) has had a great season so far," said Hanson. "He's really come out of his shell and is doing good things for us offensively. Once he puts a complete game together he's a pretty tough match up for anybody."
 
Big shots from Tucker Jr. and Sitton right out of the gates showed that the Vikes were going to throw everything they had at UBC and it took some time for the T-Birds to get their high-powered offence in gear.
 
Just six points at the half separated the teams, and the fans packed into the CARSA Performance Gym were buzzing, sensing a potential upset.
 
In the third quarter the T-Birds offence really started clicking. The team started driving into the teeth of the Vikes zone defence and then dishing the ball out for open shots, scoring 27 points in the quarter.


 
"Anytime you get a road win in this league it's a good thing to have happen," said Hanson. "Once we started handling their zone better we got some better shot opportunities."
 
A 63-50 UBC lead after three quarters was put in jeopardy throughout the fourth and final quarter when the Vikes found another gear and put together some scoring runs of their own.
 
"We had pretty good resolve and kept battling," said Beaucamp. "We just have to pick ourselves up, get ready to go back against them on Sunday and just keep building.
 
"Right now it's about continuing to try and be a better basketball team."
 
The veteran UBC line up refused to be rattled by either the loud crowd or the pressure the Vikes applied to them though, and answered every Vikes run with one of their own.
 
"They made some tough shots, ran some good stuff and some of their guys stepped up," said Hanson. "It was nice for us to be able to counter when we needed to for sure."
 
The two teams will be back in action for a game on November 27 that gets underway at 2:00 p.m. The game can be watched live on canadawest.tv
 
SCORING SUMMARY
UVIC: 13-17-20-19: 69
UBC: 15-21-27-19: 82

SCORERS 
UVIC: Wayne Tucker Jr. (21), Grant Sitton (16), Jake Newman (12)
UBC: Conor Morgan (23), Jordan Jensen-Whyte (20), Will Ondrik (12)