VANCOUVER – The fans at War Memorial Gym were treated to a basketball showcase Saturday night, as the UBC Thunderbirds came up clutch in a 74-72 victory over the Winnipeg Wesmen in the Canada West Quarterfinals.
In the battle between nationally-ranked opposition it was
Fareed Shittu who shone brightest, as the fifth-year senior scored a career-high 28 points while also grabbing a season-high 14 rebounds for the 'Birds.
Adam Olsen recorded 15 points, three rebounds, three assists and a career-high five blocks for the home team.
Brendan Sullivan dished out a career-high 11 assists to go with six points and seven rebounds.
"I thought we executed very well down the stretch, especially in the fourth quarter," said Thunderbirds head coach
Kevin Hanson. "We maintained our composure very well…We got some tough rebounds, we got some stops when we needed, and we executed very well on the offensive side. That's a really good program win, against a really good team."
Elijah Mensah had a big game off the bench for the visitors, recording 14 points and six rebounds in just 14 minutes of action. Shawn Maranan had 14 points, six rebounds, nine assists and four steals in his final game for the Wesmen.
"I was super pleased with our effort," said Winnipeg head coach Mike Raimbault. "This is an extremely tough team to play against and a tough place to play. Having played a game yesterday was a challenge for us, but I was super proud of our effort and our focus to continue to fight. We gave ourselves a chance to be there in the end and we just came up a little bit short."
The two teams got off to a high-scoring start, with Olsen draining back-to-back triples to put the T-Birds in front. A Shittu and-one threatened to stretch the lead, but Maranan answered right back with a three-pointer of his own to keep it close.
Winnipeg slowly pushed themselves out in front as the first quarter went along, with a triple from Kato Jaro and a floater from Mensah making it 27-20 in favour of the road team.
That was as big as the lead would get, however, as the T-Birds closed the quarter well and then Shittu came out on fire to begin the second, scoring seven straight points to put his team ahead. Mensah did most of his damage in the second – scoring 10 of his team's 12 points in the frame – as the 'Birds locked down Winnipeg's other primary scorers.
A highlight reel alley-oop from Sullivan to Shittu got a roar from the crowd as the T-Birds entered the halftime break up by seven and with the momentum.
Donald Stewart earned a couple buckets early in the third to cut into the deficit, but UBC responded with a small push of their capped by a triple from
Gus Goerzen. The Wesmen, though, refused to go away, and a long-range bomb from Maranan made it a one-possession game.
Neither team could create much separation in the fourth, with the game very much hanging in the balance throughout the entire final quarter.
With UBC up 74-70 with just a minute to play, Sullivan flew out to the perimeter to contest a three-point attempt from Maranan, swatting it into the UBC bench. Lamar Everd followed that play with a tough finish through traffic to make it a two-point game with 47 seconds on the clock.
The crucial play came with about 10 seconds left, when Shittu skied for an offensive rebound after a missed three-pointer at the end of the shot clock. He managed to then pass the ball out to the perimeter, and the Thunderbirds were able to wind down the rest of the time remaining without letting the Wesmen get a chance for a final shot.
Hanson was pleased with how the T-Birds' depth pulled through when it mattered most, with a number of players battling foul trouble at different points in the night.
"It's everybody stepping up right now, the next guy came in and they performed well," he added. "I think it was a really good team win by a great group of kids."
Next up for the Thunderbirds is a date with the Manitoba Bisons in the Canada West Semifinals next weekend. That game will take place on the road in Winnipeg, as the Bisons hold the second seed in the Canada West playoffs, ahead of the third-seeded T-Birds.