VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball team parlayed a dominant defensive performance into a lopsided 85-57 win over the Lethbridge Pronghorns on Friday night at War Memorial Gym.
 
With the result, the 'Birds will move on to the Canada West Final Four league championship tournament.
 
"I thought, in the first three quarters, they really stepped it up," said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson of his team's defensive showing against Lethbridge. "The last two games, really, holding a very good offensive team to 57 points two nights in a row is a great result, even if we did let it slide a bit in the fourth quarter tonight."
 
Back to Saturday, and the 'Birds got scoring from all over – Phil Jalalpoor (Schifferstadt, Germany) led the way with 13 points, while David Wagner (Kamloops, B.C.), Conor Morgan (Victoria, B.C.), and Taylor Browne (Surrey, B.C.) all netted 11. Will Ondrik (Vernon, B.C.) also hit double digits, pouring in 10 points.


 
The 'Birds got off to a lightning-fast start in the first quarter, as a couple of steals and some solid work from guards Jordan Jensen-Whyte (Calgary) and Jalalpoor helped the 'Birds build up a 14-5 in the opening four minutes.
 
The 'Birds continued to pressure the Horns well in the latter half of the frame, and were particularly effective in neutralizing their perimeter offence, with the Pronghorns only able to muster up five points from outside the paint over the quarter.
 
Meanwhile, the 'Birds continued to get contributions from up and down the lineup – Wagner had seven points in the final two minutes of the quarter, while Ondrik knocked down a couple of buckets late, including one that put the 'Birds up 32-9 by the end of the frame.
 
The T-Birds shooting stroke took a dip in the second frame – after putting away 73.7 per cent of their shots in the first quarter, the 'Birds managed just 25 per cent on 3-of-12 shooting in the second. Still, the hallmark of this 'Birds team has become its defence, which held up in the second frame, holding Lethbridge to just 10 points.
 
At halftime, the scoreboard read 41-19 for the home side.
 
In the third, the 'Birds were back to their first quarter form, as the 'Birds ripped off a lightning-quick 19-3 run in the first five minutes of the frame.
 
The lead afforded Hanson the opportunity to work in his substitutes, but they weren't about to let the momentum slip away. Patrick Simon (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) and Elijah Campbell-Axson (Vancouver) came in off the bench and knocked down a pair of triples apiece in the later stages of the frame.
 
On the defensive side, the 'Birds not only forced the 'Horns into poor shots, but also forced turnovers – Lethbridge coughed up the rock nine times in the third quarter, and 23 overall.
 
Overall, the 'Birds hit 6-of-10 from beyond the arc in the frame, which helped stretch their advantage to 73-33 by the buzzer.
 
With UBC's substitute players still seeing the majority of the playing time, the fourth quarter saw Lethbridge outscore the 'Birds 24-12, but it was too little, too late for the Albertans.
 
The Calgary Dinos, with a 1-0 series lead over the Alberta Golden Bears, and either the Thompson Rivers WolfPack or the Regina Cougars, who are knotted up at 1-1, will have a chance to join UBC and Manitoba in the Final Four tomorrow.
 
UBC will play host to the CIS Men's Basketball Final 8 in less than two weeks. Get your tournament packages and single tickets now, as the national championship is set to take place from March 17-20 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. The men's basketball team plays a quarter-final game on Thursday, March 17 at 8 p.m. Get tickets now.