VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds defeated the Waterloo Warriors 105-73 Saturday at War Memorial Gymnasium to finish their UBC Invitational men's basketball tournament at 2-0.
 
Fifth-year forward Conor Morgan had a double-double for the second straight night, recording 21 points and 12 assists.
 
Coming off the bench, rookie forward Grant Shephard had 20 points, the final two coming on a monstrous alley-oop dunk on a pass from fellow Kelowna first-year Mason Bourcier.
 
"That's the Kelowna connection right there," said Shephard. "Mason's my boy. He always knows where I'm going and I always have to say thanks for the great passing."
 
"We've been brothers since Grade 8," said Bourcier. "I know what he's going to do – he knows what I'm going to do. We always have that connection going on the court. It's cool."
 
Bourcier finished the night with five points, seven assists and four steals.

"First game was a little rough and this one started off a little slow, but it's great to see the potential of this team," he said. "I don't necessarily feel like a rookie, I feel like just another player on the team. It's all about adjusting to the U SPORTS level and the speed of the game. It's going good right now. It's a fast process."


 
The T-Birds used a strong third quarter – in which they outscored the Warriors 28-11 – to pull away after leading by eight at the half. Waterloo opened with the first two buckets of the game, coming from Evan Rodenburg and Nedim Hodzic, but trailed 25-17 after a quarter. They wore down after the mid-game break after battling the home side to a 22-22 draw in the second.

Like UBC, the Warriors had four players in double digits in scoring. Simon Petrov had 19 points, thanks in part to his perfect performance on three shots from beyond the arc. He also grabbed seven boards. Colin Connors posted 18 for the team in black and gold. Justin Malnerich scored 11, and Hodzic had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Luka Zaharijevic had 17 points for UBC, and rookie Grant Audu chipped in with 10.

Shephard was 7-of-10 from the field, perfect in six trips to the foul line, and brought down six rebounds on the night.

"It's great to be a part of the program. It just feels natural playing with these guys," he said. "I like the style of play, it's unselfish and they just play the best kind of team basketball."
 
UBC will face another Ontario opponent in its next game, as it will play Western Thursday at the Graham Shootout, hosted by the Saskatchewan Huskies in Saskatoon.