VANCOUVER – The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack proved a force to be reckoned with on Saturday night, picking up their third straight win to open the Canada West campaign, defeating the UBC Thunderbirds 73–68 at War Memorial Gym.
 
It was a scoring by committee approach for TRU as Jayden Stephens led the way with a game-high 18 points and seven rebounds, as well as 13 points and seven rebounds from Dami Farinloye.
 
After outscoring UBC in the final frame of Friday night action, TRU picked up right where they left off in the return matchup. Fifth-year forward Thomas Olsen led the way at the half with 11 points on a perfect 3-of-3 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line.


 
UBC found itself on the comeback trail throughout most of the first-half, and turned to its bench to fuel the offence. Alongside the steady play of Nikola Guzina, Karan Aujla complimented his fellow forward by scoring seven points of his own and grabbing four boards in the first half, including a buzzer-beating tip-in as the half expired.
 
Entering the final 20 minutes, the T-Birds were hungry to bounce back against a resilient WolfPack squad. Gus Goerzen came alive in the second half, nailing a few strikes from beyond the arc to close out the game with four three-pointers to fuel UBC's offence.
 
The T-Birds found their footing defensively in the third and fourth quarters, holding TRU to just 14 and 10 points in the third and fourth quarters combined.
 


UBC was looking to make amends for a slow start to the game and caught fire in the final 10 minutes. Tobi Akinkunmi put his heart on the line, diving for loose balls and getting out on the fast-break, which allowed the T-Birds to trim the lead to single digits.
 
In the final minute of play, Goerzen hit two of his four triples on the game to pull UBC to within three-points, but that would be as close as the T-Birds would get as a pair of free throws from Stephens put the game on ice.
 
Next up for UBC is a match-up versus the Victoria Vikes, who take on the T-Birds on Friday, Nov. 7th with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (PT).