In a triumphant return to War Memorial Gym, the UBC Thunderbirds overpowered the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack in a 72-44 victory to remain undefeated at 12-0 in conference play.
 
UBC big man Sukhman Sandhu racked up a team-high 25 points and shot 63% from the field with 12 rebounds, as the T-Birds scored 30 points in the paint and out-rebounded TRU 65 to 33.
 
"Having him back in our lineup is special," said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson on the return of Sandhu after a lengthy absence from game action. "There's not a lot of size like him with that ability and mobility. He can shoot the three and come inside to finish at the rim. He alters a bunch of shots as well on the defensive end. That was his first game in seven weeks, so it'll take a while for him to get his game legs and conditioning back. I thought a lot of players played great tonight, and it was good to be able to play everyone and see a good team win."
 
Grant Audu had five points with nine rebounds and two steals, James Woods added 11 points, Triston Matthews had eight points, and Jack Cruz-Dumont racked up seven assists with eight boards and four points in the victory.
 
TRU's Brad King and Asher Mayan each had 12 points in the loss with King grabbing nine rebounds and Brendan Sullivan adding six points with three steals as the WolfPack fall to 4-7 on the season.
 
The 'Birds came out firing from the tip, with Sandhu scoring three straight buckets before draining a three for a 13-0 lead. King got the WolfPack on the board with a pair of free throws and Asher Mayan cut the deficit to 13 with a three, as the T-Birds led 21-8 after one.


 
UBC's offence slowed to start the second quarter until Esaie Maurancy knocked down a triple at 29-14 and Sandhu went to work again in the paint for an easy two. Tobi Akinkunmi scored back-to-back buckets for the 'Birds to extend the lead to 35-19 with under two minutes remaining, but Sullivan nailed a jumper for the WolfPack as time expired on the half with the Thunderbirds up 35-23.
 
The Thunderbird defence stifled the WolfPack in the third, and Sandhu, Toni Maric, Matthews, and Woods all knocked down threes as the home team held a twenty-point cushion up 54-34 after three.
 
Maric hit another jumper from beyond the arc to lift UBC to a 62-40 advantage in the fourth and the T-Birds held the visitors to just 10 points in the final frame en route to victory.


"I thought our defensive intensity was outstanding today," said Hanson after the 'Birds allowed the fewest point against all season. "We've ramped up the number of hours we put into defense, and tonight we took away a lot of things they were doing well. They execute so well and are such a well-coached team that knows their strengths, so I was happy with how we were able to take some of those things away. I thought our energy was there – we didn't let them get on a big run like some other teams have. We're still a little rusty on the offensive end, but that's okay because we're sacrificing a bit of that to work on our defense in practice and it's really coming along."
 
UBC and TRU will close out their two-game series on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. (PT) inside War Memorial Gym with tickets available for free online, and all the action streamed live on Canada West TV.