VANCOUVER – The No. 3-ranked UBC Thunderbirds used a strong second half to overtake the Thompson Rivers WolfPack and earn a 78-67 road victory in Kamloops, B.C., on Saturday, completing a season-opening series sweep.
 
Conor Morgan scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Thunderbirds, who also got a 17-point, 11-rebound double-double from Jordan Jensen-Whyte.
 


TRU's top offensive threat was Derek Rhodes with 20 points.
 
"They are at home and we knew they would come out tougher," commented UBC assistant coach Spencer McKay. "It is always more difficult to play the second game regardless, especially when you win by a lot. The other team is more motivated. I am sure they made some adjustments and had some motivational talks. We came out a little flat. They hit some great shots and we weren't guarding like we were last night. We are a team that feeds off our defence. When we aren't getting turnovers, not getting our assignments, not getting deflections, that doesn't feed our offence. When we play great defence, we are very difficult to stop. The focus in the second half was let our defence feed our offence."
 
UBC won Friday's matchup 96-60 but the host WolfPack led 22-19 after the first quarter and were up by six at the half (39-33).
 
Rhodes hit a triple with just over two minutes to go before halftime to put TRU up 39-29, but the Thunderbirds slowly chipped away at that deficit. A.J. Holloway's layup with 4:15 remaining in the third quarter gave UBC a 47-45 lead. TRU's Jeff Tubbs hit a jumper to tie the game on the next possession, only to see the 'Birds go on a 9-0 run – with two fouls shots and a bucket from Will Ondrik, a layup from Jensen-Whyte, and a three-pointer from Taylor Browne – to establish momentum.
 
Rhodes hit a layup and a foul shot to decrease the gap to 65-59 with 7:18 left in the fourth quarter, but that was as close as TRU would get. Jensen-Whyte made one of two foul shots on the next play, and then he stole the ball from Tubbs when TRU got it back on the next possession. He drove to the bucket for a slam dunk, sparking an 11-2 UBC run that put the game away.
 
The T-Birds outscored the 'Pack 45-28 over the last two quarters.
 
UBC (2-0) has a bye from Canada West play next weekend but will host Northwest Christian, an NAIA school from Eugene, Ore., next weekend at War Memorial Gym.

- with files from Larry Read (Thompson Rivers WolfPack Sports Information)