The UBC Thunderbirds played one of their best quarters of the season on Saturday night, as they came out guns blazing in the third quarter to separate themselves from the UNBC Timberwolves. The visitors from up north fought valiantly with just nine players available on the night, but the depth and experience of the T-Birds won out in the end with a nearly 30-point victory.

Similar to the previous night's victory over Thompson Rivers, the 'Birds started out strong, nearly lost their early lead, but then bounced back again in the second half to pull it out.

"You never know how things are going to go when you take five or six weeks off over that winter break," said Thunderbirds head coach Kevin Hanson. "I thought we were playing some really good basketball at the end of the first semester, so we need to get back to that and we're certain that we will."

Adam Olsen led the T-Birds in scoring for the second time in as many nights with 18 points and six rebounds. Nikola Guzina recorded 15 points, six boards and four assists, while Victor Radocaj added an efficient 14 points and six rebounds off the bench.



Guzina made his presence felt in the opening quarter, scoring with a nice spin move to make it 9-4 for the 'Birds before then recording a big block on the other end leading to a three-pointer from Olsen. Dunks from Fareed Shittu and Radocaj got the gym energized as the Thunderbirds jumped out to a 27-12 lead after the first ten minutes.

The first few minutes of the second quarter was more of the same, with Micah Jessie slicing to the basket for a layup followed by a sweet crossover move from Guzina for a bucket of his own.

From there though, the Timberwolves began to fight back. In a matter of five minutes they cut the lead from 14 down to just three points. The two teams entered the halftime break with a score of 40-37 in favour of the 'Birds, with the home team knowing that they needed to respond in the third.

"They knew what they had to do," said Hanson, reflecting on the atmosphere in the locker room at halftime. "We didn't play the style we wanted to…our defence certainly ramped it up and held them to four points in the third and that's what set the tone. We need to have more of that type of energy to be successful as we continue."



Shittu opened up the second half with a big block that got the run going. UNBC called a timeout after Brendan Sullivan scored on a putback off his own miss to make it 51-39, but the lead continued to grow. Back-to-back buckets inside from Radocaj pushed the gap to 20 points, before a corner triple from Toni Maric helped close out the frame at 67-41 for the blue and gold.

The T-Birds were able to cruise to the win from there, earning their fourth straight victory to improve their record to 8-3. Their next test will be a home series against the UFV Cascades on January 17th and 18th.