Ottawa – The UBC Thunderbirds were dominant at both ends of the floor from start to finish en route to a convincing 103-66 win over the Bishop's Gaiters to open quarter-final play at the U SPORTS final 8 Friday evening at TD Place.
The T-Birds shot 50 percent from the field which included going 11 for 24 from three-point land, good for 46 percent in eclipsing the century mark, while the Gaiters struggled in shooting 28.3 percent from the field and 22.2 percent from beyond the arc.
With the win the No. 3 ranked T-Birds advance to Saturday evenings semifinal where they'll meet the No. 2 seed Dalhousie Tigers after Dalhousie defeated the host Ottawa Gee – Gees 67-63 in the other quarter-final.
It was the 'Birds fourth consecutive playoff win and ninth in a row overall as they were led by third-year guard/forward and player of the game,
Grant Audu who was all over the floor, scoring a game high 25 points while adding seven rebounds and three steals.
Taylor Browne was dangerous from long range adding 16 points on the strength of four, three-pointers and
Jadon Cohee chipped in with 15 points. Second-year guard
Brian Wallack put in a gritty effort in grabbing a game high 13 rebounds and adding 7 points. For the Gaiters it was Ibrahim Ngom setting the pace with 16 points while Connor Kelly and Nervens Demosthene added 11 and 10 points respectively.
"I think what allowed me to be effective was my ability to find gaps in the press that Bishop's was running," said Audu post game. "There was a lot of room for me to operate and it was a lot of fun hooping out there with my guys, I think were locking in and meshing at the right time, we've been focusing on defence all year but we were ready to play at both ends."
Meanwhile, UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson was very satisfied with his team's total effort.
"It was very exciting, we've had some tough luck over the years in these first games but I think our guys came into the game really confident this year as our defence has been the big difference as we've talked about coming here and teams being able to put up some points on us. The focus on the defence has been the big difference for us all year and our aggressiveness on both sides of the ball was the key tonight."
The T-Birds came out ready to play and executed at both ends of the floor with stout defence to go along with an efficient 57 percent shooting from the field in the opening frame. Audu who had a quarter high 11 points opened the scoring driving the lane and scoring the bucket while being fouled, Audu completed the three-point play followed by a Cohee runner off the glass and a
Manroop Clair slash to the hoop to take a 9-0 advantage. Browne would strike next for UBC swishing a three-pointer to increase their lead to 12-0 and causing the pointless Gaiters to call an early timeout. Out of the break the 'Birds kept the pressure on as
Zack Moore was fouled while attempting a three-pointer and proceeded to hit all of his free throws to take a 15-0 advantage before Bishop's finally responded with some points of their own courtesy of Kelly hitting two free-throws to trail 15-2, the Gaitors first points coming with 5:15 remaining in the quarter. Moving ahead it was Audu who book ended the period in style, stepping up to hit a three-pointer just ahead of the buzzer to go ahead 31-13 in the opening frame. Browne and Moore each added 5 points each for UBC while Ngom's five points led the way for the Gaiters who shot just 15.8 percent from the field in the opening quarter.
Bishop's execution was far better in the second quarter as their shooting percentage had nowhere to go but up improving to 31.6 percent in outscoring the T-Birds 15-10 in the period in narrowing their deficit from 18 points to 13 points trailing 41-28 at halftime. Kelly hit from beyond the arc to pull the Gaiters to within 10 points at 37-27 which caused UBC to call a timeout.
Grant Shephard scored a team high four points for UBC while another three points from Audu gave him a game high 15 at the break. Four more points from Ngom had the Gaiters leading scorer with 9 points.
UBC would really create separation in the third quarter thanks to hitting six three-pointers and outscoring the Gaiters 34-21. Starting the three-point brigade was Audu to go up 49-33 followed in quick succession by Cohee,
Zack Moore, Browne and Clair for the 'Birds who suddenly enjoyed a 75-44 advantage. Bishops responded with three, three-pointers of their own from Kelly, Demosthene and Ngom to trail 75-49 after three periods.
With the game well in hand heading into the fourth quarter UBC outscored Bishop's 28-17 to eclipse the 100-point plateau and secure a comfortable 103-66 victory and advancement to the final four where they'll compete on semifinal Saturday.
The No. 3 T-Birds will meet the No. 2 Dalnousie in Saturday's second semifinal game which tips off at 5:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m. ET. The earlier semifinal will see the No. 1 Carleton Ravens take on the No. 5 Western Mustangs at 3:00 p.m. PT / 6:00 p.m. ET with all of the U SPORTS Final 8 action available for live streaming on
CBCSports.ca
