KAMLOOPS, British Columbia – Trinity Western's men's basketball team found themselves down by 20 points after the first quarter and never fully recovered as the Spartans lost 78-64 to UBC Okanagan Friday at Thompson Rivers University.

The Heat came out flying in the first quarter, shooting 61.1 per cent from the field and tallying 28 points, while holding TWU to 22.2 per cent shooting and just eight points.

From there, the Spartans made it a game and actually outscored UBCO 56-50 over the final three quarters, but they were in far too deep of a whole to climb entirely out.

TWU's Lucas Mannes (Chilliwack, B.C.) continued to put on what has been an impressive preseason performance, as he collected 20 points to lead the Spartans. Kelvin Smith (Los Angeles) added 16 points and 10 rebounds for TWU.

UBCO's Cameron Friesen and Aldrich Berrios each had 14 points to lead the Heat offensively.

"We got off to another slow start both offensively and defensively," said Spartans coach Aaron Muhic. "We cut their lead to 11 points on a few occasions, but UBCO was clearly the better team tonight. They out-competed us and were way more physical. Once we settled down and attacked the rim and defended, we were able to compete much better. We need to play more consistently and buy into our system. But I was proud of the fact that our team didn't give up and hung in together."

The Spartans finished the game shooting 34.9 per cent from the field while UBCO shot 44.4 per cent, including going 11 for 25 from 3-point range.

Both teams were 15 for 21 from the free throw line.

The Spartans will now play Thompson Rivers Saturday at 7 p.m.

-TW-