Friday 20 November 2009

#2 UBC 84, Thompson Rivers 81 in Kamloops

6'2" Josh Whyte converted a three point play with 19 seconds remaining in the game to break an 81-81 tie and UBC held off a couple of late WolfPack attempts at a tie to escape with the late, come-from-behind victory. TRU used an 10-0 run, culminated by a pair of free throws by Sean Garvey with just under 6 minutes to play to take a 75-63 lead and the natives in Kamloops smelled an gigantic upset brewing. But reserve guard Nathan Yu and Whyte led a resiliant UBC charge that tied the game at 77 with 2:08 after three Yu three-pointers keyed a 14-2 run. The T-Birds got numerous second chances that kept possessions alive, reversing a trend that saw them get severely outrebounded in the first half, as the WolfPack played tremendous for 35 minutes but could not close the deal. UBC's Melvin Mayott converted a lay-in with 1:28 to play to give UBC their first lead since the first quarter but later TRU's Drew Bleth hit a clutch three to tie the game at 81, setting up Whyte's dramatic finish to keep the T-Birds undefeated. TRU had leads as large as 16 in the third quarter.

The Pack used a first-half 7 for 13 effort from downtown, getting 3's from 5 different players while 7'2" center Greg Stewart had 8 points and 11 rebounds in the first half as TRU went on 30-14 second quarter run to lead 48-40 at halftime. TRU dominated the glass 23-12 and if not for Whyte (12 points in the half) and Mayott (11 points in the half), the Birds would have been in bigger trouble. But the T-Birds cleaned up the "d" glass and got several big second chances to come back and win.

Whyte led the way for UBC with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists while Mayott finished with 17 on 3-7 from downtown and a huge late block on a Bleth layup that kept UBC's momentum. Yu, who finished with 13 points, went only 3-9 from downtown but all three were in the key run that brought the game back late. Bleth had 20 points for TRU including 4-7 3's while Stewart had a 16 point/14 rebound double/double showing he can be a force in CW inside.


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