KELOWNA, British Columbia – Trinity Western's men's basketball team held two-point halftime lead, but in the second half, it was all UBC Okanagan as the Heat ran away with an 87-71 win on opening night of the Canada West regular season Friday.

The Spartans were outscored 27-18 in the third quarter and never recovered, with the Heat pushing its advantage to as much as 20 points before settling for the 16-point win.

"This was a funny game," said Spartans coach Aaron Muhic. "Basically, we didn't shoot the ball very well in the first quarter (13 per cent) and we didn't defend enough in the second half. We need to be mentally tough enough to execute our defence. We rebounded well on the offensive boards and Tee worked really hard in that area. I also thought Pat (Vandervelden, Abbotsford, B.C.) and (Matt) Hayashi (Langley, B.C.) set the tone in the paint. I know we will be ready tomorrow night."

Vartan Tanielian (White Rock, B.C.) led the Spartans offensively with 17 points, while Tyus Allen (White Rock), who was making his return to Canada West action after missing last year with knee surgery, had 14 points and Pogos Trunyan (Sacramento, Calif.) had 12 points.

Tee Maberry had 10 rebounds and nine points in his Canada West debut. Vandervelden had seven rebounds while Hayashi had two rebounds in 10 minutes of action.

Aldrich Berrios led the way for UBCO with 26 points.

TWU got off to a slow start in the first quarter and trailed 16-11 through 10 minutes.

The Spartans turned things around in the second frame, outscoring the Heat 19-12.

However, UBCO took over in the second half.

Berrios had 14 points in the third quarter to help UBCO build a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

UBCO continued to push its agenda in the fourth quarter, outscoring TWU 32-23 to pull away for the victory

The two teams meet again Saturday at 7 p.m. (PT).

-TW-