Box Score VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball team (7-2), ranked ninth nationally, parlayed an electrifying seven-minute stretch in the second quarter to victory on Saturday night, besting the visiting Lethbridge Pronghorns (5-2) 95-73 at War Memorial Gym.
Guard Phil Jalalpoor paced the 'Birds with 19 points, including 16 in the second frame, and six assists. Forward Patrick Simon added 16 points, while veterans Conor Morgan and David Wagner netted 15 apiece.
Offensively, Lethbridge was led by a trio of guards. Zac Overwater had 14 points to lead the visitors, Rob Olsen scored 12 and Dejon Burdeaux chipped in with 11.
"We came out with great energy and really took control in the first quarter but the second quarter got quite physical and we lost our composure," said head coach Mike Hansen.
"Our defense broke down and our communication was bad."
"We need to fix those things and get better leadership and we'll be fine; we are better than this."
The 'Birds game-plan from the get-go was to get the ball inside to Wagner, and they succeeded in the early going, as he had six of UBC's first 11 points, helping UBC to a 11-10 lead just minutes into the contest.
From there, the first quarter was all Lethbridge, as the Pronghorns went on an 11-3 run to close out the frame. Six-foot-seven Overwater hit seven of his team-high 14 in the first 15 minutes, including the final bucket that gave the visitors a 21-14 lead going into the break.
The Pronghorns recorded the last four points of the opening period, and Overwater added a couple of foul shots to start the second. After a Simon layup, Olsen nailed a three-point basket to give his team a 26-16 advantage just two minutes into the second quarter.
But after that, the skies opened up, and the 'Birds started raining them down.
The Thunderbirds unleashed an onslaught of three-point shots, with Jalalpoor hitting four in the last five minutes of the frame. Simon added a pair of his own, and rookie guard Taylor Browne drilled one. By the time the dust settled, the 'Birds had engineered a 29-10 run, giving them a 45-36 lead at halftime.
Morgan, who was held to a single point in the opening half, made his presence felt to start the third quarter, getting the T-Birds' seven points of the stanza. The 6-9 forward showed of his athleticism with his first bucket, taking a terrific feed from Will Ondrik and throwing down a vicious alley-oop.
With the emergence of Morgan, and another pair of threes from Jalalpoor and Simon, the 'Birds quickly built up a 60-43 lead by midway through the quarter.
With a minute and a half left in the frame, Jordan Jensen-Whyte flashed on the fast break, taking a nifty pass from A. J. Holloway and slashing around a defender, finishing at the rim and drawing a foul for the three-point play, which put UBC up 67-52.
Lethbridge scored the last five points of the third quarter – on two Overwater foul shots and a triple from Brandon Brine – to close to within 14 points of UBC at 72–58.
One of the highlights of the contest came three minutes into the final period. Up 76-61, Morgan hit a streaking Jensen-Whyte with a picture-perfect, long outlet pass. The 6-6 guard flew down the right side of the floor into the paint, delivering a nasty one-handed slam over a pair of Lethbridge defenders.
The gap between the teams hovered around the 20-point mark throughout most of the fourth quarter as neither team had a big run down the stretch.
Lethbridge's five field goals in the fourth quarter came from five different players (Brine, Burdeaux, Christopher Maughan, Joshua Sparkes and Carl Hoffman).
The Pronghorns shot 40 per cent (26-65) from the field and made nine of their 27 shots from behind the arc for a 33.3 per cent success rate, compared to UBC's 50.7 per cent (36-71) and 37.9 per cent (11-29) figures in the respective categories.
Lethbridge will look for a series split tomorrow, as they return to War Memorial Gym for the second leg of the back-to-back set. The opening tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. (PT).
