Wilson Wong (UBC Athletics)
VANCOUVER – The ninth-ranked UBC Thunderbirds held off the Lethbridge Pronghorns to claim an 85-79 victory Saturday to sweep the Canada West men's basketball series at War Memorial Gymnasium in Vancouver.
UBC, now 8-2 in league play, moved to the top of the Canada West Pioneer Division standings, while Lethbridge fell to 5-3, good enough for fifth place.
Five Thunderbirds reached double digits, led by guard Jordan Jensen-Whyte (Calgary), who put in a 16-point, seven-assist performance. Forward Conor Morgan (Victoria, B.C.) had 14 points and eight rebounds. Guard Phil Jalalpoor (Shifferstadt, Germany) added 13. Forward Will Ondrik (Vernon, B.C.) scored 12 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Forward Patrick Simon (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) posted 10 points off the bench.
The Pronghorns also had five players in double digits. Forward Jared Baker scored 16 points. Forwards Brandon Brine and Zac Overwater both added 13, while guards Dejon Burdeaux and Joshua Sparkes contributed 10 points apiece.
Small forward Michael Pierzchala led Lethbridge with six rebounds.
"We were able to grind out the game and it is nice to win the close ones even if it wasn't a pretty game," said Ondrik. "We didn't play to our full capability but to win the really tough ones on the Saturday night against a strong team gives us a good feeling. We were able to share the ball and make big plays to keep the game in our favour."
The host Thunderbirds led by 11 points twice in the fourth quarter but the Pronghorns fought back to get within two points late in the game.
Lethbridge used an 11-3 run over a span of 2:40 to trail just 77-75 with two minutes to go in the final period.
Burdeaux made a layup and the ensuing foul shot to start the surge. Baker then nailed a pair of three-point shots before Brine capped off the run with a layup.
UBC missed its next shot but got the offensive rebound only to have Burdeaux force a turnover that gave Brine the ball. Eventually, it went to Burdeaux, who sliced from the left wing to the hoop with no one in front of him, only to have Morgan block his layup from behind and prevent the game-tying layup.
On the following possession, Ondrik nailed an off-balance jumper from the right below just as the shot clock expired to give UBC a 79-75 lead.
The Thunderbirds made all six of their foul shots after that basket to seal the victory and the series sweep.
UBC didn't look like it would need the late-game heroics after opening the night with an 11-0 run. Morgan's layup 17 seconds into the game gave the T-Birds the lead, which it held for the rest of the contest. In fact, Morgan scored the first six points and Jalalpoor the next five.
However, Lethbridge slowly fought its way back into the game. Overwater and Sparkes both knocked down five points to close the gap to 23-16 after the first quarter.
In the second, the Pronghorns used a 10-2 surge, powered by back-to-back triples from Sparks and Baker, to close to 31-30.
For the rest of the half, the two teams were separated by no more than two possessions, with UBC leading 38-36 at the break.
The Thunderbirds came out impressively after halftime, increasing their lead to 49-40 about halfway through third quarter. Ondrik's layup with two and a half minutes to go made it 55-45 but the visitors were tenacious, as Rob Olsen hit a jump shot at the end of the period to reduce the gap to just 58-54.
Lethbridge shot 47.7 per cent (31-65) from the field and 41.7 per cent from behind the three-point line. UBC made 46.7 per cent of its shots from the field (28-60) and was 8-of-28 from downtown for a 28.6 per cent figure. The Thunderbirds also won the rebounding battle decisively, 43-25.
The win moved UBC bench boss Kevin Hanson closer to another coaching milestone. With 243 Canada West league victories, Hanson is two away from tying the late Guy Vetrie for second place on the conference all-time coaching wins list. The Thunderbirds are 243-82 in Canada West games with Hanson as head coach. He will have a chance to tie Vetrie next weekend, when UBC travels to Winnipeg to face the Manitoba Bisons in a Friday-Saturday doubleheader.
Lethbridge will travel to Saskatoon next weekend to play two games against the Saskatchewan Huskies.
UBC will host the CIS Men's Basketball Final 8, which will see the absolute best basketball players in Canada make their way to the UBC campus.
Get your tournament packages, as the competition is set to take place from March 17-20 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
IMAGE CREDIT: Rich Lam/UBC Thunderbirds