OTTAWA – The UBC Thunderbirds used 30-plus point first and third quarters to pace themselves to a 103-66 win over the Bishop's Gaiters on Friday night in a U SPORTS Men's Basketball Final 8 Championships quarter-final at The Arena at TD Place in Ottawa.
Sometimes Goliath beats David; Friday night was one of those times. UBC, a school of over 51,000 students took care of business against Bishop's and their enrollment of just over 2700. However, the Gaiters fans, family and friends were out in full force.
The T-Birds and their high-powered offense (2
nd in U SPORTS in the regular season) didn't miss a beat as they opened the game on a 15-0 run and capped the opening stanza with a buzzer-beating three pointer for a 31-13 advantage. The Gaiters were just 3-19 from the floor while UBC went 11-19 in the opening 10 minutes.
Bishop's bounced back, holding UBC to just 10 second quarter points and were able to cut the lead to 41-28 at halftime.
UBC's all-Canadian Jadon Cohee had just two points at the break but came alive in the second half. He paced the Canada West champions to 34 third-quarter points and all but put the game out of reach.
A loose fourth quarter made the final 103-66.
Ibrahim Ngom (Montreal, Que./Vanier College) led the way for Bishop's and was named their player of the game. He scored 16 points and added three assists in 36 minutes.
Connor Kelly (Brockville, Ont./St. Mary's C.S.S.) and
Nervens Demosthene (Terrebonne, Que./Cegep de Montmorency) were the only other Gaiters in double figures with 13 and 10 points respectively.
Five UBC Thunderbirds scored in double figures led by Grant Audu's 25 points. Taylor Browne scored 16, Cohee 15, Manroop Clair 11 and Zach Moore 10.
Brain Wallack grabbed 13 of UBC's 56 rebounds; Bishop's had just 40.
The Gaiters struggled shooting the ball. They ended up at 28.2 percent from the floor, were just 8-36 from three-point range and 58.3 percent from the free throw line.
The loss means Bishop's moves onto the consolation side of the draw. They face Ottawa on Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Ravens Nest at Carleton University.
Stay up-to-date with everything Bishop's Gaiters at
www.gaiters.ca or on social media by using @BishopsGaiters.
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