LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western danced with the UBC Okanagan Heat on Friday night, defeating the visitors 94-86 in front of their home fans at the Langley Events Centre.
 
TWU's (4-8) massive third quarter put UBCO (1-10) at odds after they jumped out to an early lead in the match.
 
Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath (Amarillo, Texas) was on fire after a slow first quarter. The fifth-year exploded for a game-high of 32 points on 11-24 shooting from the field. Gilbreath wasn't the only Spartan who put together a formidable night as Andrew Goertzen (Langley, B.C.) threw down 14 points while hauling in a game-high of 13 rebounds.
 
Off the bench, Vlad Mihaila was shining. The sharpshooting guard went 3-3 from 3-point range, ending the game with a season-high of 15 points throughout his 30 minutes of play.
 
The Heat fell on what was a well-balanced night for the team. Third-year BB Chuks-Mady scored 15 points in only 19 minutes of play. Chuks-Mady certainly made life difficult for the Spartans down low by going 6-8 from the field. 11 of 12 members of the Heat scored points, speaking to the strong depth displayed by UBCO on Friday. Three Heat players coming off the bench scored 10 or more points.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The first quarter started with UBCO gaining a healthy 12-5 led by their strong inside presence. The Spartans were able to claw back as the quarter came to a 24-21 close in favour of the visiting Heat.
 
The second quarter was kickstarted by Vlad Mihaila's hot shooting. Mihaila, who had hit TWU's final shot of the first quarter, continued to pour it in, hitting two more consecutive 3-pointers to put the Spartans ahead 29-27. With the Spartans starting to find some footing on the game, the Heat started to pour it in from deep, closing the quarter shooting 6-12 from 3-point range. Mason Bourcier led the way for the Spartans with 13 points through the first half of play.
 
The third quarter kicked off with the Heat continuing their strong play, moving to a 55-45 lead as a result. Still, TWU had something to say, clawing back with a 18-4 run to take the lead. Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath tied the run together with a pull-up shot from deep, igniting a fire under the Spartan faithful. The third quarter resulted in a 67-62 advantage for TWU, winning the quarter by a significant margin (26-15).
 
With TWU starting to take a hold on the game, UBCO came out with five quick points to tie the game immediately. As both teams traded blows throughout the quarter, it was the Spartans who ended up in control of the match, closing the match at a 94-86 final.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Trevor Pridie
"The thing for us is having people step up each game. Vlad [Mihaila] was huge off the bench for us, he played the best game I've ever seen him play. Andrew Goertzen was unbelievable. Those two guys were our best players today.
 
"Matching them in the battle on the boards was huge for us tonight. We knew they were a really big, and athletic team. We knew that we had to show up. We haven't been great defensively this year, but I thought we showed up and worked really hard on that side of the ball. Q had a phenomenal second half. You just get used to him scoring 30 points now though, there aren't any surprises.
 
"It was a good team effort tonight. That is a good team."

NEXT UP
TWU will host UBCO at the David E. Enarson Gym tomorrow at 5 p.m.

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.

-TW-