LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western's men's basketball team is in the win column, as the Spartans beat Thompson Rivers 78-73 Friday at the Langley Events Centre. 

With 6:56 left in the fourth quarter, TWU (1-7), who trailed by as many as 15 points (45-30) early in the fourth quarter, tied the contest 63-63 on a Tre Fillmore (Amarillo, Texas) 3-pointer. Then, a second straight 3-pointer from Fillmore, who hit six from beyond the arc in the game, followed by a three from Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath (Amarillo) capped a 17-3 Spartans run that gave the home side a 69-63 lead. 

The Spartans never trailed after that. TRU (4-5) tied the game 69-69, but another 3-pointer from Gilbreath with 1:25 left sealed the win. 

Gilbreath led the Spartans with a double-double, scoring 24 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, as TWU nabbed their first victory of the 2021-22 campaign. Fillmore added 21 points, while Mason Bourcier (Kelowna, B.C.) had 12 points, seven assists and five boards. 

Brad King had a team-high 18 points to go with nine rebounds for TRU, while Asher Mayan chipped in 17 points and Brendan Sullivan had 13 points. 

TWU shot 40 per cent from the field, while TRU shot 35.2 per cent. The Spartans edged the WolfPack 45-42 on the glass. 

AS IT HAPPENED 
The WolfPack jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter, going ahead 23-18 before extending their advantage in the second frame to 12 points, taking a 42-30 lead at the break. 

An early three from Mayan put TRU ahead by 15 less than a minute into the second half. However, three straight made free throws from Gilbreath, after he was fouled beyond the arc, started the TWU comeback. 

With a boisterous home crowd on their side, the Spartans roared all the way back, eventually pulling ahead by six, 69-63, with an 11-0 fourth quarter run. 

QUOTABLE
Trevor Pridie, TWU Head Coach
"The guys battled so hard. We couldn't seem to get anything going offensively early and TRU does such a good job defensively. Our offence got stagnant and we were going late clock so often. We couldn't get a any flow going. But I thought it was just hard work in the second half. Guys really stepped up and battled. 

"We had to make some adjustments defensively. I'm proud of the guys. They showed a lot of heart and a lot of fight. Tre was huge. We need guys to step and just hit some timely threes. There were just so many big plays. Mason got that jump ball and Q does Q things every night. I thought Connor (Platz, Langley) gave us some good minutes. It was nice to have Isaiah (Reimer, Abbotsford, B.C.) back. We've been through a lot of adversity this year so it was nice to get the monkey off the back and hopefully we can keep building that momentum."

NOTABLE 
•    Gilbreath was a perfect nine for nine from the free throw line. 
•    The win is the Spartans first official victory since Feb. 2, 2018 when the Spartans beat MacEwan 97-88.
•    The victory marked TWU's first win at the Langley Events Centre since Jan. 27, 2018 when they also beat TRU 81-74. 

NEXT UP
The rematch with TRU is Saturday at 5 p.m. (PT) at the Langley Events Centre. 

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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