T- Birds shake nerves, then the Vikes
UBC rallies to dunk Victoria and set up first- place showdown next week on Vancouver Island
In their minds, the Canada West playoffs have already started.
With first place in the Pacific Division hanging in the balance, the UBC Thunderbirds men’s basketball team and the University of Victoria Vikes authored a spirited battle in front of a boisterous crowd at UBC War Memorial Gym Friday night.
The Thunderbirds, having been swept in a two- game miniseries last weekend by the UFV Cascades, overcame a nervous start before finding their stride en route to a 68- 52 win.
That improves UBC’S record to 13- 4, identical to the Vikes, setting up a first- place rematch next Friday in Victoria.
The Thunderbirds worked their way to an 11- point lead midway through the opening quarter, but had to contend with a scrappy Vikes team all night.
By halftime, Uvic had trimmed the deficit to six points. But the Thunderbirds persisted, regaining that 11- point cushion, before increasing the lead as the third quarter went on.
A big reason for that was the sudden offensive outburst from fifth- year guard Nathan Yu. After scoring just three points through the first half, Yu exploded in the third quarter with 11 points. He finished with a game- high 22. Fifth- year forward Kamar Burke chipped in with 17.
That allowed the Thunderbirds to eventually take a 22- point lead, before they clamped down defensively, allowing the Vikes little more than back- to- back threepointers in the fourth quarter, giving them faint hope of a comeback.
But by then, the damage had been done.
• Meanwhile, UBC’S women’s team put a dagger into the playoff lives of the Vikes earlier in the night.
Despite sporting their Vancouver Island rivals an 18- point lead just past the midway point of the second quarter, the Thunderbirds stormed back to a decisive 83- 66 victory.
“They were tough out of the gate,” said Thunderbirds head coach Deb Huband of the Vikes. “They came at us really hard, we had a difficult time guarding them for the first 20 minutes and they were shooting a really high percentage. But they were executing really well and we had to make some adjustments in the second half.”
The Thunderbirds had already clinched a playoff spot and first in the Pacific Division, however the Vikes face a much more dire situation.
The loss pits the Vikes with an 8- 9 record. Although they hold onto the third and final playoff spot in the division, they must defeat the Thunderbirds next Friday and hope that Thompson Rivers University of Kamloops loses both their games this weekend with the UBC Okanagan Heat, who sport a 2- 14 record.
Thunderbirds fifth- year forward Zara Huntley and firstyear guard Cassandra Knievel each had 17 points.