VANCOUVER – Third-year UBC guard Mason Bourcier poured in a career-best 26 points but the Thunderbirds fell 94-88 to the California State Bakersfield Roadrunners Wednesday night in Vancouver.
 
"I was happy with the way we competed," said assistant coach Sean Shook, who filled in for bench boss Kevin Hanson on Wednesday. "It's been a pretty productive summer for us, so being able to come back, get on the court, and play a very good competitive, athletic team is to be good for us going forward. We'll take a couple of days off here and recharge and be ready to get back into it, and head into the regular season.
 
"We had a few struggles as a team overall down the stretch taking care of the ball, and making smart decisions, and that eventually cost us in the end."
 
Grant Shephard and Manroop Clair had 18 points apiece for UBC, which also got a 16-point performance from Grant Audu. Shephard completed the double-double with 10 rebounds, while Brian Wallack grabbed nine. The majority of the minutes were shared by six players on the short-handed T-Birds roster.
 
The visiting NCAA Division I squad had three players reach the 20-point plateau in scoring, with Justin Edler-Davis leading the way with 22 along with a team-high nine rebounds. Taze Moore recorded 21 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Cam Allen chipped in with 20.
 

The two teams were tied 16-16 at the end of the opening quarter, and went into halftime level at 40-40. Bourcier was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, including a pair of long-rang buckets, and converted all three shots from the foul line for 15 points in the first half.
 
"Mason's level has just improved every day," remarked Shook. "He's a guy who puts a tonne of time in the gym to work on himself, and make his game better. Mason was very efficient tonight, and moved the basketball. They (CSU Bakersfield) had to double-team Mason, and they were doing everything they can to keep the ball out of his hands and he was still able to create opportunities for both himself, and his teammates."
 

?? MBB | A great push by @ubctbirds before the end of the 2nd quarter results in a 40-40 tie at halftime vs. @CSUB_MBB!

It's a great show of basketball for the fans in attendance tonight at War Memorial Gym ??#GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/3XmdWvoOo9

— UBC Thunderbirds / @UBCTBirds (@ubctbirds) August 22, 2019

The Thunderbirds went ahead 60-52 when guard Taylor Browne made a triple with about three minutes to go in the third quarter.
 
With 38 seconds left in the period, Browne made another long-distance shot, this time to give UBC its largest lead of the game at 70-61. Allen's ensuing jump shot for CSUB allowed his team to close the gap to seven entering the final quarter.
 

The Roadrunners completed the comeback in the fourth, using a 15-3 run that lasted about four and half minutes to take an 82-78 lead. Bourcier made good on a couple of foul shots with 2:36 to go to tie the game at 85-85, but CSUB replied with six straight points to seal the victory in the last contest of their Canadian tour.
 
UBC's next outing will be an Oct. 4 exhibition against the Seattle Mountaineers.