VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds were locked in offensively as they scored triple digits for the first time this season in a win over the Cascades.
The blue and gold hit a blistering 15-27 from beyond the arc, their best three-point shooting performance of the season. All 12 players who took the court for the T-Birds scored a basket.
"We're really confident in our depth, and I'm glad guys got an opportunity to step in," said Thunderbirds head coach
Kevin Hanson. "
Karan Aujla came in and played really well…the flow was pretty good and there's certain lineups I'm liking more and more as the season goes on."
Aujla was one of five double digit scorers for the 'Birds, led by
Adam Olsen who dropped 19 points on 7-9 shooting.
Gus Goerzen also showed well in his return to the lineup with an efficient 15 points and four rebounds.
Ismael Hernandez led the way for the Cascades with 15 points and five boards. Dario Lopez added 12 points and five rebounds.
Tobi Akinkunmi set the tone early with a massive block early in the first, followed by a contested pull-up three from Goerzen. The Roberts Creek native then hit another triple followed by one from
Brendan Sullivan to make it 11-7 in favour of UBC. An and-one from
Fareed Shittu pushed the lead to double digits, before he became the third Thunderbird in quick succession to hit from the outside.
The Cascades made a push, and cut the deficit to just six points following consecutive buckets from Dilveer Randhawa and Takeshi Croke, but
Micah Jessie ended the run with a three-pointer of his own. The T-Birds finished the opening frame up 25-18.
Sullivan opened the second quarter with a layup on the first play, which sparked a 13-0 UBC run highlighted by two more triples from Jessie. Goerzen continued his hot start, as he scored 15 first half points to help put the T-Birds up 23 at the break.
UBC hit nine triples in the first 20 minutes and committed just three turnovers.
"I just think the guys came in with confidence," remarked Hanson. "Our defence led to some transition threes. The guys were really positive, we spent more time focusing on shooting this week and I think they played really loose…We started well and just carried it through."
Olsen made sure the T-Birds picked up right where they left off to begin the second half, hitting back-to-back threes to extend the lead further. The Cascades then managed to cut into the deficit somewhat and notched a couple of highlight plays with both Hernandez and Chris Jackson throwing down impressive dunks.
That made it a 23-point game, but the Thunderbirds responded with yet another run of their own. It was led by Olsen who hit a variety of jumpers to put him up to 14 points in the third. An and-one from Shittu in the dying seconds of the quarter made it 81-44, the biggest lead of the night for the T-Birds.
The Cascades kept fighting, and managed to outscore UBC 24-19 in the fourth, but they were unable to get closer as the Thunderbirds improved their record to 9-3 on the season.
The Lower Mainland foes will face off again Saturday night at War Memorial Gym. Tip-off for the rematch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. (PT).
