VANCOUVER, B.C. – Trinity Western fell 102-97 at the War Memorial Gym to the No. 5 ranked UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday.
The Spartans (0-6) constantly fiddled with UBC's (10-0) lead throughout the entirety of the game, but the Thunderbirds were stuck in the driver's seat, refusing to surrender control to the Spartans.
Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath (Amarillo, Texas) was on a different level in Saturday's game, finishing with 37 points and seven rebounds. Gilbreath's night was incredibly efficient, sinking 14 of 23 field goal attempts with four of them being from 3-point range.
Gilbreath wasn't the only Spartan to dazzle on Saturday as
Isaiah Reimer (Abbotsford, B.C.) scored a career high of 22 points. Reimer, who has gradually earned bigger minutes throughout the season, shot 7-15 from three to give the Spartans a massive lift on the offensive end.
AS IT HAPPENED
TWU's shooting woes from Friday carried over in the first quarter of the game as the Spartans found themselves at a 15-22 deficit by the end of the first ten minutes of play.
Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath scored 11 of TWU's 15 points in the quarter to keep TWU in the mix.
Shots started to fall for the Spartans in the second quarter as Gilbreath combined with
Isaiah Reimer for a flurry of 3-pointers and key baskets. Still, UBC's James Woods kept the Thunderbirds in the game, seemingly going shot-for-shot against the efforts of Gilbreath and Reimer. The first half ended with the Thunderbirds in control, 46-41.
UBC got off to another hot start at the beginning of the second half as shots started to fall for Grant Audu. The Spartans, still riding the hot hands of Gilbreath and Reimer, were joined by
Mason Bourcier (Kelowna, B.C.) who defended well while creating for
Andrew Goertzen (Langley, B.C.) down low. UBC's lead fluctuated as the TWU's run-and-gun offence caught fire for certain stretches of the game. The third quarter ended with another UBC run spurred on by their depth, climbing to a 74-63 lead.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Spartans as their core group of individuals continued to play well.
Isaiah Reimer found himself in an important shot, essentially serving as a focal point for their flourishing offence as the Spartans continued to fiddle with UBC's evasive lead. With the Spartans finding themselves at a 10-point deficit with two minutes remaining, Gilbreath and Reimer hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Spartans some hope. The hope was diminished quickly as the clock forced the Spartans into fouling the Thunderbirds. Woods iced the game with two crucial free-throws to end the game.
NOTABLE
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Trevor Pridie
"We're getting better. It was an offensive explosion by both teams, Isaiah shot the ball really well. There was a stretch in the third quarter where we had a bunch of live-ball turnovers to put them [UBC] up 18. We fought so hard this whole weekend, going down 20 in the third quarter of yesterday's game, then going down 18 in tonight's game. That was the story of the weekend for us. Us fighting so hard to keep it close on the road against a good, physical team, showed how much resilience we have.
"I thought we took some big steps in becoming a team. We're going to keep working going into the break. Perspective is important, we're 0-6 but we have only played against top-10 teams in the country. We have a busy semester with lots of games coming up, but we're figuring out some things on both sides of the ball. We're starting to really come together as a team, so I'm proud of the guys for that.
"Live-ball turnovers were a big thing for us tonight. We were turning the ball over at the top of the key, giving them easy points on the fast break. Still, we had an offensive explosion as a team tonight. It was cool to see that."
TWU Guard Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath
"We need to get better at rebounding and limiting turnovers, myself included. If we did those two things better, we could have won tonight. We're getting better every day, so I'm not too worried. We'll keep coming along.
UP NEXT
The Spartans will travel to the Tournament Capital Centre after the break to play Thompson Rivers (4-4) on Jan. 7
th and 8
th.
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men's rugby. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 29 Canada West team championships.
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