VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (4-4) are heading into the holiday break on a positive note thanks to a thrilling 101-100 home overtime victory Saturday over the Alberta Golden Bears (4-4).
James Woods (33 points, 9/19 FG) and
Triston Matthews (22 points, 6/9 3PT) combined for 55 points while
Brian Wallack chimed in with a team-leading nine rebounds to go with 17 points in a game where at one point in the second quarter the 'Birds trailed by 17 points. But a 17-0 run in a span of three minutes and 47 seconds from UBC during the second quarter helped shift a 51-34 Alberta lead to a 51-51 score. Adam Paige led the charge for Alberta with 25 points on 10 of 18 shooting.
"If you're talking about a rollercoaster ride, that certainly was one," claimed head coach
Kevin Hanson after the jubilant celebration from his club. "It was a game full of adjustments. I loved being a part of a game like that. I thought the energy and effort was the best that it's been in a long time for us."
A day removed from a 100-88 victory, the Golden Bears jumped out to a 34-24 lead in the first quarter. With the score tied 24-24, Alberta finished the first quarter on a 10-0 run during a span of two minutes and 12 seconds. Six of those 10 points came from a pair of three point shots from Isaac Simon. Alberta started the game hitting seven of their first eight shots from beyond the arc.
With 4:35 remaining in the second quarter, Alberta had built up the 51-34 lead. A three-pointer from
Triston Matthews stopped the bleeding for UBC, and from there
Jack Cruz-Dumont (4),
Sukhman Sandhu (4) and
James Woods (6) all helped chip away at the deficit to even the score. From there the two teams traded late baskets to head to halftime in a 53-53 deadlock.
When discussing his team's comeback and the subsequent 17-0 run,
Kevin Hanson stated, "We got some good stops and finally we relaxed and hit some shots. We started to hit some threes to cut the lead down. They got a bit tentative and the flow of the game went back into our favour. We needed that push."
Six of the game's 20 lead changes occurred in the third quarter as neither team was able to regain a stranglehold over the other. UBC would end up taking a one-point lead (71-70) into the final quarter on the strength of seven points from
Brian Wallack and a pair of threes from
Triston Matthews.
Credit the Golden Bears who fought back in the fourth quarter to outscore UBC 22-21. Julian Vaughns posted six fourth-quarter points for Alberta while
Triston Matthews countered with six of his own thanks to two more three pointers. With 17 seconds remaining and a 93-90 lead, Alberta was unable to convert off a fast-break rush.
Tobi Akinkunmi grabbed the rebound, fed the ball up court to
James Woods who drilled a game-tying three-pointer with 11 seconds remaining. Julian Vaughns came up empty on his winning shot attempt with two seconds remaining, which meant overtime for the first time this season for UBC.
Overtime mimicked the rest of the second half, as neither team was able to catapult ahead of the other with any sort of confidence. With the score tied 98-98,
Brian Wallack went to the free-throw line and knocked down both shots to give UBC the 100-98 lead. Lars Ishimwe responded with a layup for Alberta with 66 seconds left, setting the stage for a defensive battle in the waning moments. With 13 seconds left,
James Woods drew a foul on a layup attempt, and converted on one of his two foul shots. That one-point edge would prove to be the difference as Brandon Meiklejohn's game-winning three-point attempt came up empty which secured UBC their fourth win of the Canada West season.
"Being 4-4 is nothing to celebrate, but to beat a quality opponent like Alberta going into the break gives us some momentum that we can build off," concluded Hanson. "The last few weeks we haven't been ourselves, but getting back home and bringing that kind of energy tonight was great for the guys. I'll give them credit for working hard and making plays."
UBC finished the game with 26 second chance points and their bench outscored Alberta by a 31-26 margin.
Now, the holiday break begins for the UBC Thunderbirds who will return to Canada West regular season action in Brandon on January 6
th. The next time the blue and gold take to their home court will be January 20
th against Regina.
