It was a good day at the office for the UBC Thunderbirds in their home opener, as they took down the Trinity Western Spartans by a score of 99-78.
The Thunderbirds put on a fantastic offensive display, as they shot 58% from the field, 44% from the outside and 100% from the free throw line. Five players scored in double figures, and all 12 T-Birds who saw the court dropped in at least one bucket.
Thunderbirds head coach
Kevin Hanson played a very deep rotation, with
Adam Olsen being the only player who was on the floor for more than 24 minutes.
"We're still trying to find out which five guys are gonna have the chemistry to play together," said Thunderbirds head coach
Kevin Hanson. "We got confidence in every guy – all twelve guys played tonight, good opportunity for growth as a team and it's going to make us better."
Olsen recorded 15 points, five rebounds and two blocks, while
Gus Goerzen was electric off the bench with 20 points on 7-9 shooting, 6-8 from downtown.
Nikola Guzina added 18 points and three boards, with 14 of those points coming in the second half.
The Thunderbirds fell behind 8-0 early, and it took a couple minutes to find their first bucket – a
Fareed Shittu jumper. From there, though, the T-Birds began to turn it on, especially after the trio of Goerzen,
Tobi Akinkunmi and
Micah Jessie were all in the game off the bench.
Those three powered an incredible 21-2 run to end the quarter, featuring two triples from Goerzen and an and-one finish by Akinkunmi. A jumper by
Arnaud Konan right before the buzzer sounded capped off the electric burst by UBC.
Eight different Thunderbirds scored in the second quarter, including rookie guard
Nylan Roberts who put up six points and three rebounds in the frame in his first regular season action at War Memorial Gym.
Kashie Ugoji recorded his first career Canada West points a couple minutes into the quarter with a three-pointer that made it 40-22 for the 'Birds.
UBC stretched the lead out to as much as 20 following a bucket by
Victor Radocaj, but a very determined Spartans team began to chip away at the lead. Entering halftime the score stood at 55-42 in favour of the home team, a solid advantage but certainly not a done deal.
TWU continued to refuse to go away in the third, and got the lead down to single digits by the late stages of the quarter. The T-Birds were outscored 23-17 in the frame, the only quarter in which they were outscored on the night.
Despite the best efforts of the Spartans, a comeback was not to be in the fourth quarter, as it was time for the Guzina & Goerzen show. The two T-Bids combined for 19 points in the final 10 minutes, with Goerzen shooting a perfect three for three from the outside.
The Thunderbirds defence also stepped up, forcing the Spartans into 5-16 shooting from the field in the final quarter as well as four turnovers. That included a steal from
Brendan Sullivan that led to a Guzina layup on the other end, which made it a 13-point lead with just five minutes remaining.
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UBC cruised to victory from there, dropping 99 points and recording 19 assists as a team.
"We're pretty scary when we share the ball," added Hanson. "We just need to try and play 40 minutes of that style of basketball and we'll be happy."
Next up for the T-Birds is a trip to Kamloops for a two-game series against Thompson Rivers next weekend.
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