Aaron Martin (UBC Athletics)
VANCOUVER - The Buchanan Cup will stay at UBC for the time being.
The UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball team rode a dominant second quarter to victory on Tuesday evening, besting their crosstown rivals, the Simon Fraser Clan, 101-71.
The contest marked the first time the two sides had played against each other since March 6, 2010, a game which the 'Birds won by a score of 76-68.
Fourth-year UBC guard Jordan Jensen-Whyte (Calgary) dominated in three quarters of action, posting 22 points, five assists, four rebounds, two blocks, and a steal. Forwards David Wagner (Kamloops, B.C.) and Will Ondrik (Vernon, B.C.) both chipped in with 12 points of their own, while SFU transfer Patrick Simon (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) hit double digits with 10 points for the 'Birds.
On the SFU side, sophomore guard JJ Pankratz led the way with 21 points, while Max Barkeley put up 14, and Michael Harper posted 13 points to go along with his five boards.
Though they didn't break the game open right away, the T-Birds spread out the scoring well in the opening frame, with six different players hitting the scoresheet for at least three points.
After the two sides traded early buckets, knotting the game up at 5-5 just a minute and a half into the contest, the T-Birds went on a 17-9 run to create separation. UBC's Conor Morgan (Victoria, B.C.) provided one of the highlights of the opening fifteen minutes during that stretch, as the 6-foot-9 forward broke in alone on the fast break and threw down a monster one-handed slam that put the 'Birds up 11-7.
The Clan did well to take advantage of some defensive miscues from UBC in the tail end of the first quarter, and closed out the frame on a 10-7 run of their own to close the T-Birds' lead to 29-24 by the buzzer.
Jensen-Whyte led the 'Birds with seven points in the opening frame, while Wagner and Ondrik each notched five of their own. However, the T-Birds left a lot of points on the table in the opening stanza, hitting just 45.5 per cent of their shots from the field.
For the Clan, Pankratz was on a mission early on, as he paced the visiting side with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the first 15 minutes.
SFU carried their late momentum from the first quarter over into the second, as they started out on another 10-7 run to cut the T-Birds lead down to just two points, at 36-34.
That was as close as the Clan would get on the evening, though, as the 'Birds made a tactical shift, moving into a smaller lineup so as to avoid additional foul trouble. To that point, the 'Birds had already racked up 10 infractions.
The shift did more than just halt the T-Birds' fouls, it also gave them a little extra quickness, which they turned to their advantage.
With six minutes remaining in the first half, the T-Birds poured it on to the tune of a massive 18-1 run. The six-minute stretch was as stylish as it was clinical, as it featured a couple of spectacular dunks from Ondrik and Jensen-Whyte.
Armed with a 54-35 lead coming out of halftime, the T-Birds pressed even harder to open the third quarter, which was perfectly exemplified by the first two buckets of the frame.
Just 30 seconds in, after Jensen-Whyte picked up a loose ball in the defensive end, he dished up a beautiful lob to Ondrik, who skied and did well to corral the pass before laying it in.
The next play was Ondrik's turn to reciprocate, as he and Jensen-Whyte broke in again, with Ondrik lofting it up, and the big 2-guard throwing in down hard.
That sequence of back-to-back impact plays seemed to kick the 'Birds into another gear, as they picked apart the SFU defence for the rest of the frame. UBC used a dominant third quarter to build their lead from 19 at halftime a margin of 31 by the end of the third.
With an 82-51 lead heading into the final frame, UBC head coach Kevin Hanson took the opportunity to give his starters a rest, and get the rest of his squad some valuable minutes. Of note was the play of first-year centre Roger Milne (Winnipeg), who came off the bench and knocked down four points in just eight minutes of action. Dominic Gilbert (Sydney, Australia), the import in his first year at UBC, was also impressive, as he showed the ability to get open and make his opportunities count, hitting two long balls from beyond the arc in the final frame.
Getting some real experience for a few younger players, the 'Birds managed to outscore SFU 29-20 in the fourth quarter, and finished off the win with that 101-71 final score.
After the contest, Hanson noted that game's turning point, that second quarter run, was produced in part because of a tactical adjustment.
"The second quarter, I thought we really got after it, " Hanson said. "Because of foul trouble, we moved to small ball, and that gave us a bit more energy, a bit more athleticism out there. In the first quarter, I thought that a lot of their points came off our weak defence, so once we made those adjustments, I thought our defence really carried that second quarter, and the momentum just built from there."
This rivalry game against SFU, Hanson remarked, produced about as close a simulation of the CIS Final 8 Men's Championships as possible.
"We're hosting nationals at the end of the year, and I wanted to put our guys in a situation where you're going to have a lot of emotion behind the game, and arousal level is going to be very high," the head coach stated. "You've got to see how you player there, and whether you can weather that storm."
The 'Birds will continue their non-conference schedule this weekend, as they'll host the Mount Royal Cougars on Friday, October 30, and the Evergreen State Geoducks on Saturday. Both games will tip off at 7 p.m. (PT) at War Memorial Gym.
Get your tournament packages to the CIS Men's Basketball Final 8, taking place March 17-20 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
IMAGE CREDIT: Rich Lam/UBC Thunderbirds