By Larry Read
TRU Sports Information Officer
The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack have moved closer to the .500 mark in Canada West men's basketball.
The WolfPack upended the University of British Columbia Okanagan Heat 82-66 Friday (Nov 23) afternoon on the Warner Rentals Court at the Tournament Capital Centre.
TRU moves to 3 and 4 as they were spurred on by over a thousand school children at the TCC as part of the WolfPack's first ever "School Day."
Derek Rhodes led the way for TRU with 25 points. He was one of four players in double figures. The others were Enrico Nuno with 17, Michael Rouault had 12 while Joe Davis chipped in with 10.
UBCO's top scorer was Triston Bathtews with 18 points. Phillip Okanlawon added 16 with Jacob Stokker and Hafiith Moeallin adding 15 and 14 points respectively.
The WolfPack scored 40 points 'in the paint' in comparison to the Heat and capitalized on second chances for 15 points compared to four for UBCO. Thompson Rivers led 20-15 after the first quarter and held a 42-34 advantage at the break.
Rhodes had 13 of his 25 points in the first half for TRU. Nuno, who was named the "TRU Bookstore/McDonalds Leader of the Pack" player of the game had 12 of his 17 points in the second half. UBCO's Matthews had 10 points in the second half while Moallin had 11 point in the final two quarters.
The game marked the return of Ken Olynyk and Thom Gillespie to the Tournament Capital Centre. Olynyk recently retired as the Athletic Director at Thompson Rivers. Gillespie was the interim head coach of the men's basketball program at TRU before Scott Clark was hired nine years ago.
The WolfPack and Heat will play again Saturday afternoon (Nov 24) at the Warner Rentals court at the Tournament Capital Center. Tip off will be 2:45 pm.
All WolfPack games—home and away—are webcast on a pay per view basis on Canada West TV. WolfPack home games are webcast by James Matthews and former TRU WolfPack player Vince Watson along with Dylana Milobar providing interviews before, after the first and third quarters and half time.
There was a large crowd for this Friday afternoon battle of the geographical rivals. The WolfPack invited various local elementary schools to the TCC for an introduction to university basketball.
This was the latest installment of the "President's Cup" competition between TRU and UBCO. It's a battle among the two school's U SPORTS teams-basketball, volleyball, soccer and cross country. TRU now leads the men's competition with two wins, a loss and a tie.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:
THEY SAID IT! (post game quotes):
TRU Head Coach Scott Clark:
On ruling the 'Paint: " They are a bit undersized and we threw the ball inside. Those two things allowed us to do that. We made some shots when they collapsed. I thought there were open shots and open shooters. We are a pretty good shooting team. I am happy about the 82 points we scored. Not too happy about the 66 we gave up."
Video of post game interview: click here
Heat interim head coach Ken Olynyk (1st season):
On the outcome: " They out played us especially in the fourth quarter. They got tough in the fourth quarter and we didn't. We needed to be a bit tougher and do a better job down the stretch."
Video of post game interview: click here