LANGLEY, British Columbia – After what started out as a promising game, a third-quarter run by UBC changed the game as Trinity Western fell to the visiting Thunderbirds 102-80 Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre.
After TWU had closed the gap to 53-51, the T-Birds responded with a 19-5 run that helped UBC earn its eighth consecutive win.
The win improves UBC to 9-5 on the season while TWU drops to 1-13.
UBC's Tommy Nixon was the T-Birds leader across the board, tallying 27 points and 11 rebounds. Nixon finished the weekend with 72 points and 20 rebounds.
Tyus Allen (White Rock, B.C.) led the Spartans with a career-high 22 points while also earning six rebounds. Teammate Denny McDonald (Mississauga, Ont.) tallied 20 points, as well as five rebounds and went 10-10 at the free-throw line.
UBC outshot TWU 62.5 percent to 32.4 percent from the field. The Spartans showed consistency on the free-throw line however, as they made 87.5 percent of their shots compared to the Thunderbirds' 71.4 percent.
"We were right there, but there was one run that we didn't recover from," said Spartans coach Scott Allen. "They hit a shot as a team and then we tried to make our own shot as individuals coming back and that went back and forth four times in a row. That was enough to bury us. We couldn't respond.
"It's tough. We have to play pretty well a perfect game to be in it at the end. It's disappointing because the guys are wanting to compete, but it just comes down to a few mistakes."
While it was a close game to begin with, UBC began to get a leg up halfway through the first quarter as they led 14-9. Refusing to give up however, TWU came back with 45 seconds left in the quarter to grab its first lead of the game, 24-23. The Spartans finished the quarter up 27-24.
UBC took back the lead at 8:26 in the second quarter, going ahead 28-27. While the two teams stayed within a point of each other for the majority of the quarter, UBC took the largest lead of the half at the end of the quarter, up 47-38. The Spartans went 11-11 for free throws in the first half.
In the third quarter, the Spartans pushed right back. Allen sunk a three-pointer, a layup and then a free throw within 18 seconds to bring the Spartans within two points of the visitors at 53-51. The Spartans momentum was momentary though, as the Thunderbirds took back control and pushed the score to 69-56 before finishing off the quarter at 78-60.
The Thunderbirds began the final quarter with a twenty-point lead, 80-60 and continued to increase their distance from the Spartans as the time wound down. Despite the Spartan effort the Thunderbirds lead proved to be uncatchable and they claimed the game 102-80.
The Spartans travel to Saskatchewan to take on the Huskies Jan. 30-31 while UBC will host Calgary.
Game Notes: TWU is still in search of its first win on home court this season…the Spartans last win was Nov. 21 against Brandon…UBC had a 38-32 edge in rebounds…after going to the free throw line 46 times on Friday, UBC went to the line 35 times Saturday.
-TW-