CIS men's basketball Friday roundup: UBC downs CIS champs in opener

The first quarter saw the Bisons and Wesmen go back and forth as the teams got reacquainted with each other. The tight scoring game saw both teams take the lead and then give it up again a number of times. The Wesmen were led by fifth year veteran Nick Lother who had 23 points in the first half. He was 3 for 4 from beyond the arc, but also received a technical foul, as the Wesmen jumped out to a 26-22 first quarter lead.

The Bisons turned the game around during the second quarter as guard Eric Garcia pushed Manitoba into the lead, at one point they were nine points ahead. His 16 points in the half were mostly made in the paint as he went to the foul line three times after making baskets. Going into the half, Manitoba led 53-44.

The second half was a totally different game. The Bisons jumped out early with an eight point run that put them up 17 points on the Wesmen, early in the second half. Lother broke the early run by Manitoba but there wasn't a lot that Winnipeg could do to stop the bleeding. Lother only had seven points in the second half.

Manitoba controlled the tempo of the game as they scored at will with their fast breaks and precision passing, something that second year Bison men's basketball head coach Kirby Schepp was happy to see.

"It was real good," says Schepp. "The tempo of the game was where we wanted it at."

The Bisons cruised to their 20 point victory with Keith Omoerah and Richard Reimer pleasing the crowd with some big, two handed slams. Manitoba was led by Garcia who scored 20 points and added seven assists. Reimer and Josh Ogden added 16 points each with Reimer bringing down 15 boards for the double-double.

Manitoba plays next week on October 29 when they visit Fraser Valley. The University of Winnipeg don't play until November 5 when they welcome the University of Calgary Dinos to town.

Source: Manitoba Sports Info

Saying the Spartans opened the game on fire would be an understatement, putting up an astonishing 40 points in the opening quarter. The Spartans were 13 for 20 from the field including 5 – three pointers. Before the Horns would even have a chance to regroup, the were down by 28 points after 10 minutes.

The second quarter started with the Spartans as equally as hot, opening the second quarter on a 7-3 run to push the lead to as many as 32 but. On the strength of a Randy Davis three pointer at the buzzer, the Horns cut the once insurmountable lead to under 20 with half a game remaining. It would be as close as the Horns would get.

While their pace slowed in the second quarter, the Spartans put up 42 shots from the floor in the opening half, hitting on 45% and despite shoot a respectable 45% themselves, the Horns put up 20 fewer shots.

Coming out the break, former CIS player of the year Jacob Doerkson hit back to back threes that put an end to any thoughts of the a Horns comeback. The Spartans continued to pour it on offensively, continually pulling away from the Horns in each quarter. In fact the Spartans shot the ball even better in the second half, hitting at a phenomenal 62% in the half and pushed their lead to as many 41 in the fourth quarter before settling on a 37 point victory.

"The Spartans had an outstanding first quarter scoring 40 points based on outstanding execution and ball movement," said Head Coach Dave Adams. "They were successful in getting exactly what they wanted on the offensive end, and dictated the game early on the defensive end as well."

Doerkson led all scorers with 28 points for the Spartans, on 11 of 13 shooting. Tyrell Mara and Kyle Coston chipped in with 23 and 18 respectively. For the Horns Randy Davis led the way with 23 points, while newcomer Zach Humphrey scored 19 in his Horns debut.

The Horns have 24 hours to regroup and try to enact some revenge on the Spartans tomorrow night at the 1st Choice Savings Centre to complete the weekend series. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00pm.

Source: Lethbridge Sports Info

Whyte was one of seven T-Birds to score eight or more points, as the T-Birds used their depth and up tempo style to unsettle the Huskies. Saskatchewan shot just 24-of-80 (30.0%) from the field including 2-of-22 (9.1%) from three-point land.

Although the win had many hallmarks of a classic UBC victory, such as no player seeing more than 25 minutes of court time, it was a pair of performances from lesser profiled 'Birds that proved the biggest difference as UBC avenged their 91-81 loss to the Huskies in last year's championship game.

Balraj Bains, a 6-foot-9 post, made the first major impact in the game for the T-Birds, entering late in the first quarter to try and stem the Huskies dominance in the paint.

Saskatchewan had scored 18 of their 22 points in the paint to that point but with Bains in the game, UBC went on a commanding 26-4 run through the second quarter to lead 44-36 at the half. The Huskies did not score a point in the paint with the lanky Bains patrolling the middle for UBC.

"I thought Balraj probably played his best basketball as a Thunderbird even though he didn't score a point," said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson of Bains, who ended with five rebounds, five blocks, and three steals. "He rebounded and when he had to guard the point on switches he did a fantastic job. In that second quarter he was just outstanding."

The Huskies showed their grit in the third quarter, responding with a solid push despite only scoring four points in the second frame. Saskatchewan newcomer Jamelle Barrett, who led the visitors with 17 points, hit a pair of free throws with just over a minute left in the third quarter to cut UBC's lead to 14 but before they could close the gap any further, Melvyn Mayott had a furious finish to the frame which essentially sealed the win.

With only one second left on the shot clock, Mayott hit a deep three to extend UBC's lead to 66-49 with 42 seconds left in the third. He proceeded to block Barrett's lay-up attempt on the next Saskatchewan possession and with time expiring in the frame, Mayott nailed a three from the corner in front of the UBC bench to make it 69-49.

UBC put the game away with a solid fourth quarter that saw them double up the Huskies 22-11.

Nathan Yu added 14 off the bench for UBC. Starters Alex Murphy and Doug Plumb also hit double figures for UBC with 11 and 10 points each. The T-Birds were a combined 31-of-71 (45.1%) from the floor but really had their stroke going from long range making 12-of-24 (50.0%) three-point attempts.

Michael Lieffers notched a double-double for the visitors with 11 points and a game-high 17 rebounds while fellow starter Nolan Brudehl chipped in 11 points and seven boards. Saskatchewan, however, lacked scoring from their second unit with only 14 bench points compared to 37 for UBC.

With game one against their rivals from the Prairies under their belt, Hanson knows it will be a tough battle again tomorrow as the team's meet as part of Canada West's new schedule that has opponent's playing back-to-back nights.

"We addressed this during the week. You have to be prepared to play two games back-to-back because so often it's the team that loses Friday that comes back with that little bit of an edge. Really, it's a lot about the psychological preparation. This one is done, we just need to refocus for tomorrow."

Source: UBC Sports Info