Jeremy Laurie (UBC Athletics)
VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball team (2-1) came out with a commanding 94-69 win over the visiting Trinity Western Spartans (0-3) on Friday night at War Memorial Gymnasium.
Carrying momentum forward from last Saturday's 82-54 win against the Alberta Golden Bears (1-2), Thunderbirds head coach Kevin Hanson felt his team played a solid game.
"We did some good defensive things in the first half," he said. "It was nice being able to get everybody in and take care of business."
Part of UBC's success came from the depth of their scoring. Six players had double digit nights: Will Ondrik (Vernon, B.C.) with 20,Jordan Jensen-Whyte (Calgary, Alta.) with 15, Conor Morgan (Victoria, B.C.) with 13, David Wagner (Kamloops, B.C.) with 12, Dominic Gilbert (Sydney, Australia) with 11 and Patrick Simon (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) with 10.
TWU's Dean Richey and Lucas Mannes both had impressive nights with 16 points apiece.
The 'Birds dominated in the opening half of the match, thanks in part to a TWU offense who struggled to sink shots early on and were 18.9 per cent from the field in the opening quarter.
Well that improved to 37 per cent (27-of-73) by the game's end, it was not enough to keep up with the T-Birds who were 47.3 per cent (32-of-65) from the field.
TWU also committed a number of fouls, which UBC was able to capitalize on, as 26 T-Birds points came from the free-throw line.
Jensen-Whyte opened up scoring only three seconds into the game with a three-point play to give UBC a lead it didn't relinquish the rest of the night.
Points seemed elusive for TWU in the opening minutes as they trailed 8-2 after about three minutes of play. Despite a pair of good free throws from Vartan Taniellan and a momentary offensive surge, which put TWU within one point of UBC at 10-9, the Thunderbirds pulled ahead towards the end of the first frame.
Three-point baskets from Gilbert and Morgan and three buckets from Simon helped propel the T-Birds to a comfortable 26-13 lead heading into the second.
UBC got their spark early in the second after Gilbert sunk two baskets in the opening 32 seconds. His second successful jump shot came following a steal from A.J. Holloway (Tacoma, Wash.) who fed Gilbert the pass as he took off up the wing, rocketing past TWU defenders.
Jensen-Whyte nailed a pair of layups and a free throw in just over a minute, pushing the Thunderbirds to a 20-point lead midway through the second.
The Spartans responded with a pair of three-pointers from Dean Richey and Josiah Allison in the closing minutes of the half, but the 'Birds maintained a dominant 48-28 lead.
A three pointer from Ondrik and a series of TWU fouls early in the third frame helped push the T-Birds to a 30-point lead by 6:43, which they would maintain for a majority of the third quarter.
The Spartans perked up both defensively and offensively midway through the final quarter. Between 6:04 and 3:57, TWU scored eight unanswered points, reducing the lead to less than 20 for the first time in the half.
Four points each from Simon and Ondrik helped UBC maintain a solid lead going into the final minute.
Despite Sebastian Eliasen's slam dunk and late game three pointer, the Spartans were unable to close in on the Thunderbirds.
The two teams will close out the weekend series with a Saturday game at 7 p.m. PT at War Memorial Gym.
IMAGE CREDIT: Rich Lam/UBC Thunderbirds