Eoin Colquhoun, Pronghorn Athletics
LETHBRIDGE – It took overtime and a school record but the Lethbridge Pronghorns put an end to the U SPORTS fourth ranked UBC Thunderbird's nine game win streak and earned a weekend split with a 106-101.
The win snaps the Pronghorns three game losing streak to start 2018 and improves their record to 11-5 on the season. UBC's record drops to 11-3.
Fourth-year forward Zac Overwater set a new career and program high with 49 points to lead the Pronghorns. Overwater broke the previous record of 43 points that was shared by three former Pronghorns, Perry Mirkovich, Al Chapple and Danny Balderson. Overwater also completed the double-double with 12 rebounds.
Kyle Peterson picked up 28 points to go along with six assists and six steals in the win, while Colton Gibb 15 points.
Despite sitting with foul trouble in the first half, Conor Morgan once again lead the Thunderbirds with 25 points and 18 rebounds for his second straight double-double on the weekend. Phil Jalapoor and Luka Zaharijevic chipped in with 21 and 16 points respectively.
Down nine points heading into the fourth quarter, UBC cut into the Pronghorn lead early in the fourth, setting up an exciting and intense finish. With 2.9 seconds remaining, Conor Morgan was fouled away from the ball and calmly hit both free throws to send the game to overtime.
In the extra frame, the Pronghorns opened with an 8-1 run and were able to hold the T-Birds off to earn the victory.
Overwater was feeling it early, scoring 12 points in the opening quarter to lead Lethbridge to a 25-19 lead at the end of the first quarter. He followed that up with an even better second quarter, picking up another 18 points as the Pronghorns took a 52-42 lead into half time.
The 30 points Overwater scored in the opening half was one shy of his previous career best that he set earlier this season.
After missing a large portion of the opening half due to foul trouble, Conor Morgan scored 20 of his team high 25 points in the second half to bring his team back and force overtime.
The two teams finished with near identical shooting percentages at 46.2% for UBC and 46.1% for Lethbridge. UBC won the battle on the glass for the second consecutive night, out rebounding the Pronghorns 56-39 but UBC did turnover the ball 28 times on the night.
The Pronghorns now head into their bye week and will return Thursday, January 25th to host the Calgary Dinos in the front half of a home-and-home series. UBC will return home to face the MacEwan Griffins next weekend.