Rachel Villari (UBC Athletics)
VANCOUVER – The No. 10-ranked UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball team was back in its usual form Saturday night, earning a commanding 82-54 victory over the visiting Alberta Golden Bears. The win comes after a disappointing loss the night prior, allowing for the Thunderbirds to split the two-game CIS opening weekend series.
Fifth-year forward David Wagner (Kamloops, B.C.) scored 16 points to lead UBC's offence, but fourth-year guard A. J. Holloway (Tacoma, Wash.) and third-year forward Conor Morgan (Victoria, B.C.) weren't far behind with 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Colby Jackson led the Golden Bears in scoring with 13. Sebastien Denault had 11 points and nine rebounds.
"I'm really happy with the rebound from last night," said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson. "I'm really happy with everybody. I think we did a great job defensively – I think the defence led to a lot of points in transition which is something we tried to adjust for from last night – I thought the emotion was there, and some guys did some really great things on the offensive end. Everyone contributed to the win, overall everybody did something well."
A team effort allowed the Birds to jump out to the lead within the first five seconds of play, and never relinquish it.
Morgan won the opening tip, fed the ball to fourth-year guard Jordan Jensen-Whyte (Calgary), who tore down the court for the first layup of the game. Morgan then caused a turnover in the Golden Bears' half and converted a layup.
Alberta, though, hung tough. Denault's layup and ensuing made foul shot cut UBC's lead to 11-9.
With 2:48 left in the first, UBC's Holloway nailed the first of his three three-pointers, hanging back at the top of the half-circle and hitting nothing but net. That helped the 'Birds take a 19-15 lead into the first break.
Morgan opened the second quarter with another three-pointer, assisted by second-year Patrick Simon (Port Coquitlam, B.C.). Simon carried the ball deep into the key and then jumped and turned, firing the pass to Morgan just outside the half-circle. The three-pointer increased UBC's lead to 22-15.
Scoring would cease for two minutes until Jackson and his Golden Bears would sink a three-pointer of their own, only to have third-year Phil Jalalpoor (Shifferstadt, Ger.) rebound with a three-pointer of his own just a few seconds later.
Ethan Dixon made a jump shot with 5:43 left in the quarter to bring Alberta to within five points of UBC, but the Thunderbirds pulled away after that. The hosts ended the half on a 15-2 run, and added another bucket to open the third to go up by 20 points at 44-24.
Wagner scored seven points in the run, including a three-point basket, which Jalalpoor and Holloway also made in the surge towards halftime.
Jackson collected eight out of his 13 points in the third quarter but his Bears never got close than within 15 points of the Thunderbirds the rest of the way.
With 22 seconds left in the quarter, rookie Taylor Browne (Surrey, B.C.) sunk the first regular season three-pointer of his CIS career, increasing UBC's lead to 63-45.
The Thunderbirds continued to build their lead in the final 10. Morgan and Will Ondrik (Vernon, B.C.) combined for another dunk, much like they did last night to bring the War Memorial Gym crowd to its feet, and third-year forward Luka Zaharijevic (Vancouver) netted two jumpers for his first points of in league play.
The Thunderbirds won the rebounding battle on Saturday 45-36.
UBC is back in action next weekend as they host the Trinity Western Spartans Friday (8 p.m.) and Saturday (7 p.m.) at War Memorial Gym, while Alberta is headed back to Edmonton for a series against the Winnipeg Wesmen.
IMAGE CREDIT: Bob Frid/UBC Thunderbirds