VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (10-5) held off the UBC Okanagan Heat (5-12) to capture their sixth straight win in a hard-fought 94-86 win at War Memorial Gym on Friday night. Playing without their second leading scorer,
Brian Wallack, the 'Birds showcased their depth with three players tallying over 15 points en route to victory.
"We had to play with our lineups a bit tonight," said UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson. "I think we played with a little bit more confidence down the stretch. We didn't execute very well the whole game, but defensively we got stops when we needed and made adjustments. It's tough to replace Brian [Wallack] and find rotations to fill his minutes, and 18 points a game, but his leadership is a big piece that we missed as well. We were just trying to find something that worked and luckily we hit enough shots to get it done. UBCO is a high-scoring team with lots of offensive weapons, and in the end we were a little bit more aggressive and that's what paid off. It's a grind of a season and it was a grind of a game tonight."
James Woods put up a game-high 24 points for the T-Birds,
Sukhman Sandhu tallied 19 points with six boards,
Triston Matthews had 18 points, while
Jack Cruz-Dumont shot 71 percent from the field and finished with 12 points and a season-high seven assists.
Liban Yousef led the Heat with 22 points, Jalen Shirley had 15 points and five assists, while Gus Goerzen added 14 points and six rebounds and shot 4-for-5 from three in the loss.
The 'Birds rattled off a 10-0 run in the first, capped off by a pair of Sandhu free throws, to take a 14-4 advantage in the first and led 23-17 after the first. Cruz-Dumont sliced through the lane for an easy two at 29-21, but Yousef cut the Heat deficit to 33-31 before Goerzen gave UBCO a one-point lead on a trey. Sandhu restored a four-point lead for the 'Birds with a three at 41-37, but the Heat kept pace and a Gavin Ashworth triple at the buzzer sent the visitors into halftime down just 48-45.
Shirley brought UBCO within one in transition, but another Sandhu triple put the T-Birds up 61-58 and a Woods trey extended the UBC lead to 69-61 before they headed into the final frame up 71-65.
Esaie Maurancy found Woods with a no-look pass to the corner for three to maintain a six-point edge, but Shirley cut straight to the rim at 86-82 to stay within striking distance in the fourth. The 'Birds continued to execute offensively and took a seven-point lead into the final minute of play and hung on for the 94-86 win.
"We're going to have to continue making adjustments," said Hanson. "We're still not happy with our defensive effort and energy so we have to make more changes, but hopefully we can regroup and be ready to go."
UBC and UBCO are right back at it on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. (PT) to close out the series inside War Memorial Gym.
