LANGLEY, British Columbia – UBC's Tommy Nixon had a night to remember as he collected 45 points to lead the Thunderbirds to a 107-89 win over the Trinity Western men's basketball team Friday at the Langley Events Centre.

On the strength of 14 points from Nixon and 76.5 per cent field goal shooting as a team, the T-Birds raced out to a 39-19 first quarter lead and from there held on the rest of the way.

The Spartans (1-12) pushed back midway through the third quarter to get within 10 points, but that was as close as TWU would get.

UBC (8-5) went to the free throw line 46 times and converted 36 of those attempts to pave the way for a convincing win. The T-Birds have now won seven games in a row.

The Spartans out-scored UBC 70-68 over the final three quarters, but the T-Birds lead proved insurmountable. TWU out-rebounded UBC 55-32 and 29-9 on the offensive glass.

"When you're down by 20 points after the first quarter, it's a pretty dubious task to be able to come back from that," said Spartans coach Scott Allen. "We actually won the last three quarters, so we'd showed that we're getting better but we just need to stop the runs. We need guys to bear down and we need to stop fouling. We're just not disciplined right now and so hopefully tomorrow it'll be different."

Nixon was 17 for 20 from the free throw line and 12 for 17 from the field. He also added a team-high nine rebounds, five assists and five steals. Andrew McGuinness collected 17 points while Jordan Jensen-Whyte had 15 points – nine of which came from the free throw line.

Former Spartan Tonner Jackson made was back at the LEC for the first time since transferring to UBC in 2013 and he collected six points in 25 minutes.

The Spartans were led by Denny McDonald (Mississauga, Ont.), who had a double-double including 18 points and 10 rebounds. Taylor Heinrichs (Port Moody, B.C.) also had 18 points while Justin Bakuteka (Toronto) added 17 points and four steals.

The T-Birds came out flying in the first quarter, going 13 for 17 from the field, four for seven from 3-point range and nine for 12 from the free throw line to take a commanding 20-point lead.

The Spartans found their stride in the second quarter and out-scored UBC 25-24, but could only put a one-point dent in the T-Birds lead at the break.

In the third quarter, the Spartans closed the gap to 10 points, at 67-57, but UBC responded and was back up by 19 going to the final frame.

Similar to the second quarter, TWU outscored UBC by one point, 21-20, in the fourth quarter, but never threatened the T-Birds lead.

The teams will meet in the rematch Saturday at 7 p.m. at the LEC.

Game Notes: The Spartans are still in search of their first home win as they are 0-7 at the LEC…the Spartans lost to Regina on Jan. 9 by the exact same 107-89 score.

-TW-