The UBC Thunderbirds put on a show for the boisterous crowd at War Memorial Gym in a convincing 97-80 win over the Trinity Western Spartans on opening night of Canada West action. In their much-anticipated return to competition, the T-Birds overcame an 11-point second-quarter deficit and demonstrated their depth and growing cohesion throughout a new-look roster en route to victory.
 
"It's always nice to get that first win on home court with a such a great crowd during an emotional time in our first game back," said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson. "For the last three days I had a pit in my stomach, like going to do public speaking…when you haven't done it in so long there's a nervous feeling. That excitement and anxiety was really high so it was great to come out here after twenty months and perform well. We only have five players who have played for us before so it'll still take us some time to gel. We saw that at times with shining moments but also tough times when we didn't share the ball. We have a lot of really good pieces, so now we have to make sure we keep working on the process moving forward."


 
Sukhman Sandhu led the 'Birds with 21 points in his debut in the blue and gold - shooting a perfect five-for-five from beyond the arc, while Grant Audu and James Woods put up 19 points each in the victory. Jack Cruz-Dumont stepped up as the starting point guard with 12 points, seven assists and seven rebounds to go along with two steals in 34 minutes. Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath had a team-high 29 points for Trinity Western and Andrew Goertzen added 20 points and 12 rebounds in the loss.
 
Woods earned an early and one to put the 'Birds up 7-4, but Tre Fillmore tied it on a triple for the Spartans the next trip down the floor. Sandhu responded by knocking down a three of his own to make it a one-point game at 11-10 before former Thunderbird Mason Bourcier scored back-to-back buckets to give Trinity Western a five-point advantage. The 6'10 Sandhu drained two straight triples to bring the 'Birds back within one at 17-16 and was fouled on a third consecutive three-point attempt – but made just one free throw to tie it up with two minutes remaining in the first. Gilbreath and Goertzen worked the two-man game to perfection on two straight possessions for a 23-21 Spartans lead as time expired in the first.


 
Trinity Western came out firing in the second with Gilbreath showing off his range on three straight threes and Bourcier adding a layup to put the Spartans up 34-23 just three minutes into the quarter. Audu trimmed the deficit to nine with a jumper and locked down Fillmore on the defensive end as the T-Birds chipped away at the Trinity Western lead with a 14-6 run in the latter stages of the second – capped off with a tough finish by Audu at the rim. Woods came up big for the 'Birds with a late three before Audu hit a free throw with eight seconds remaining in the half to complete the second quarter comeback and head into halftime tied at 41-41.

?? MBB | After a back & forth 1st half, the T-Birds and @TWUSpartans end up deadlocked at 41-41 in front of a great crowd here at War Memorial Gym. #GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/2b7KoikT3t

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) October 29, 2021

 
Woods and Audu continued to cook in the third, while Cruz-Dumont scored six of his twelve points and had three assists in the quarter as the Thunderbirds scored 29 points in the frame to take a 70-60 lead into the fourth.


 
Lincoln Rosebush and Audu each scored a triple early in the fourth quarter and a 10-0 T-Bird run boosted the UBC lead to 80-60 in one minute and thirty seconds of game time. The deficit was too much for the Spartans to overcome and the 'Birds made the most of their return in a decisive 97-80 victory.
 
The Thunderbirds are back in action on Saturday, October 28^th, to host the University of Victoria Vikes at 7:00 p.m. (PST), while the Spartans will take on the Vikes Friday night at 8:00 p.m. in the provincial capital.