VANCOUVER – If Christopher Nolan was given free rein to create a theatrical version of the UBC Thunderbirds' Senior Night, that script could not have matched the real-life version that unfolded across the War Memorial Gym court.
UBC's four graduating seniors all got the start, with two of them –
Fareed Shittu and
Micah Jessie – notching their highest-ever points totals in a T-Birds jersey. The other two –
Victor Radocaj and
Brendan Sullivan – fell just a single point short of their UBC career-highs, as the quartet combined for 77 of the team's 105 points, and 14 of the 28 assists.
Their final stat lines: 24 points and eight rebounds for Shittu, 18 points, five rebounds and three assists for Jessie, 18 points and four dimes for Radocaj, and 17 points, five boards and five assists for Sullivan.
"Them being our leading scorers, it's a very nice tribute for them to go through that on our Senior Night," said Thunderbirds head coach
Kevin Hanson. "I thought they stepped up and played to have a lot of fun."
That fun translated to the scoreboard, as the 'Birds scored their highest points total of the season, and highest since (coincidentally) last year's Senior Night when they defeated the Calgary Dinos 107-75.
Lamine Conde had a career-best performance for the visiting Heat, scoring 31 points and grabbing five rebounds. Jalen Shirley added 11 points, five boards and five assists.
The very first play of the night was a highlight, as the T-Birds won the opening tip and just 12 seconds later Jessie threw an alley-oop from well behind the three-point line, connecting with Shittu for a thunderous dunk.
Just two trips down the court later, Shittu threw down another emphatic slam, posterizing a Heat defender. A triple from Sullivan, followed soon after by a pair of free throws from Jessie and a dunk from Radocaj, made it 14-6 UBC with all four fifth-year players on the board.
The visitors did claw their way back into things, with Conde nailing back-to-back triples to cut the deficit to three. The T-Birds responded though, and Sullivan ended the quarter with a layup through contact to earn an and-one as the buzzer sounded.
Gus Goerzen extended the lead early in the second with a crafty reverse layup followed immediately by a three-pointer, with a rare triple from Radocaj making it 47-30 for the home team.
The Heat tried to keep it close, but their mini push was cancelled out by a 12-1 UBC run to end the half which put them up 61-36 with 20 minutes to play.
Shittu landed a third dunk on the night with a putback slam to make it 67-38 early in the third, with the lead growing to as much as 32 when
Arnaud Konan fed
Nikola Guzina for a bucket inside. The Heat did reel off an 8-0 run at one point, but the T-Birds remained up by 25 entering the final frame.
The Kelowna outfit started the fourth strong, getting the lead down to 18 points, but that was as close as they would get. Consecutive Sullivan layups and then some more points from Shittu re-asserted control of the game, and the 'Birds closed things out from there.
"I think we've got a lot of different weapons," remarked Hanson on the team's offensive fireworks. "I thought at times our defence was good which led to us getting some stuff in transition…I think the biggest difference is we played a little bit more with emotion tonight than we did last night."
Now 13-5, the Thunderbirds have just two more games to play in the regular season. Those come next weekend up in Prince George against UNBC, before the blue and gold return home to host a yet-to-be-determined opponent in the Canada West Quarterfinals.
