LANGLEY – A hot start quickly cooled off for the UBC Thunderbirds (10-5) on Friday at the Langley Events Centre, as the T-Birds fell 83-68 to the Trinity Western Spartans (8-7) in the first game of their back-to-back series.

Adam Olsen had 20 points to lead UBC. Nikola Guzina added 15 points, six rebounds, and five assists, while Fareed Shittu had 12 points and seven rebounds, but it wasn't enough to overcome an improbable scoring explosion from the Spartans' bench.

TWU'S Josh Belvin nearly had a triple-double off of the pine, tallying 28 points, 10 rebounds, and a Spartans record-tying seven steals. Jack Vanderberg displayed incredible efficiency by going 5-5 from three-point range and tallying 17 points in just 11 minutes off of the bench, trailing only Belvin and Olsen in scoring. The Spartans managed to earn the victory despite none of their starters reaching double digit points.



The first half saw the Thunderbirds take an early lead over Trinity Western, finishing the first frame with a 23-16 advantage. In the second quarter, the Spartans started to turn things around and outscored the Thunderbirds 24-14 to take a 40-37 lead into the half-time break.
 
TWU continued their strong play to start the second half. Limiting the Thunderbirds' opportunities, the Spartans outscored UBC 17-9 to take an 11-point lead, 57-46, into the final 10 minutes. Trinity Western continued to outscore UBC in the fourth quarter and extended their lead to 16 points, 70-54, midway through the final frame. The Thunderbirds never got the game to single digits as the Spartans took the 15-point win, 83-68.



This was the first time that the Spartans had beaten the Thunderbirds by 10 or more points in over 20 years. UBC holds an all-time record of 61-16 against their cross-town rivals.

The teams will rematch at the Langley Events Centre at 6:00 p.m. (PT) on Saturday. Stream all of the action, live or on demand, on Canada West TV.