Box Score Lethbridge – For the second night in a row, following a poor shooting performance and the inability to stop their opponents attack, the Lethbridge Pronghorns suffered a lopsided loss and fell to the UBC Thunderbirds 91-69.
The loss is the 'Horns fifth conference loss in a row and drops their record to 5-7, while UBC has now recorded four straight Canada West victories to reach the .500 mark at 5-5.
Coming off a career performance on Friday night, Tommy Nixon led all scorers with 21 points and was a rebound short of another double-double. Again, Nixon had a dynamite shooting night, only missing one of his six shots and went 9 for 10 from the line.
Andrew McGuinness and Tonner Jackson chipped in with 15 apiece in the Thunderbird win.
For the 'Horns, Jared Baker led the way with 15 points, while Brent Watkins and freshman Zac Overwater were the only other Pronghorns to reach double digits with 12 and 10 respectively.
A night after suffering a decisive loss, the Pronghorns looked to get off to a better start tonight and they did just that, jumping out to an early 6-2 lead. But the 'Horns shooting woes returned and they watched the Thunderbirds go on a 16-5 run to take control in the opening period.
Rob Olsen did close out the quarter on a positive note, hitting a three late to cut the Thunderbird lead to only four, 18-14 at the first break.
The 'Horns were only 6 for 19 from the floor for 31% in the opening ten minutes, while the Thunderbirds continued their strong shooting weekend hitting for 50% in the quarter.
Again, the T-Birds had the hot hand in the second, opening on another big run and extended their lead to 28-18 and with the help of the 'Horns ice cold shooting, built another large lead by the half.
Putting an exclamation point on the opening half, Andrew McGuinness hit a buzzer beater from half court to give UBC a 42-25 advantage.
Despite the 'Horns improved offensive play in the second half, they could not slow down the Thunderbirds attack in the third, surrendering another 30 points and trailed 72-48.
With the game in hand, the Thunderbirds cruised through the fourth and a weekend sweep of the Pronghorns.
One positive for the Pronghorns to take away from the second half was that the team finally found its rhythm at the offensive end and bit of a shooting touch. In the second half, the 'Horns shot 52% from the field and hit 5 of 8 shots from behind the arc.
The 'Horns will look to regroup this week and get ready to host Southern Alberta rival Calgary Dinos next weekend. The Thunderbirds head home to face Brandon Bobcats in Vancouver.
