VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds battled their way to a 78-70 win over the Trinity Western Spartans to open the second half of the season Friday night at War Memorial Gym. The grind it out affair was close throughout with neither team leading by more than eight at any point.
Both teams struggled with their outside shooting, with the T-Birds hitting just 24% of their three-point attempts and the Spartans at 19%.
"The best way to describe that one is not very pretty. It looked like the first game back after a long break," said Thunderbirds head coach
Kevin Hanson. "Obviously we didn't shoot the ball very well…but hopefully we don't shoot that bad again."
Brian Wallack led the way for UBC with 17 points and 13 rebounds for his 7
th double-double of the season.
Micah Jessie and
Brendan Sullivan both had strong performances off the bench – Jessie recorded 10 points, four rebounds and a season-high six assists while Sullivan had 10 points, four rebounds and four steals, all of those numbers season-highs.
Josh Belvin powered TWU with 23 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, although he also had eight turnovers. Aristotle Kalala notched his first double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
The Thunderbirds started slow, as the visitors jumped out to an early 12-5 lead before back-to-back buckets from
Arnaud Konan and
Victor Radocaj got the T-Birds going.
A big putback dunk by
Fareed Shittu energized the crowd and cut the lead to just four but the Spartans continued to hold a narrow lead as the first quarter ended with a score of 22-17.
After a driving layup from
Tobi Akinkunmi tied the score at 22, the Spartans responded with a 6-2 run of their own to take back the advantage early in the second quarter.
Neither team could create any real separation in the frame, but UBC closed the half strong with an 8-2 run capped by a fastbreak basket from Sullivan. That put the score at 36-33 in favour of the hosts at the break, with the two teams shooting a combined 6-30 from deep.
The T-Birds started the second half slow as TWU jumped out to an early 39-36 lead, before a three-pointer from
Adam Olsen tied it. That was followed soon after by a sweet reverse layup from Sullivan to retake the lead.
James Woods, after battling foul trouble in the first half that limited him to just eight minutes of action, scored an and-one to stretch the lead to 52-48 late in the third, UBC's biggest advantage up to that point. The quarter ended with the T-Birds ahead 54-51.
In the fourth frame, the Spartans again started the quarter on the front foot with a 9-0 run. UBC, however, responded with a 6-0 run of their own.
After Wallack, who scored 11 of his 17 points in the final quarter, tied things up at 63 apiece it was Jessie who hit a three to put UBC ahead with five minutes to play, a lead they would never relinquish.
Crunch time featured Wallack pulling down a big offensive rebound off his own missed free throw and Sullivan hitting a dagger three-pointer to put UBC up eight, their biggest lead of the night, with just over a minute to play. The final score was 78-70 as the 'Birds improved to 3-1 at home this season.
"You have to win in different ways and good teams find a way to win in different ways," said Coach Hanson. "Some guys need to step up and we stepped up when we needed to."
The win puts UBC's record at 7-4, just a game back of a top four seed. The Thunderbirds will play the Spartans in a rematch on Saturday night. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m. (PT) at War Memorial Gym.
