LANGLEY, B.C. – An alley-oop play scored by
Vlad Mihaila (Surrey, B.C.) in the dying seconds of Trinity Western's 96-94 victory over No. 8-ranked UBC electrified the David E. Enarson Gym on Saturday night.
The Spartans (4-2) were led by an explosive performance by
David Mutabazi (Delta, B.C.), who scored a game-high of 37 points in the victory. For the Thunderbirds (2-2), it was Brian Wallack's night, scoring a team-high of 24 points on 9-17 shooting from the field.
Mutabazi wasn't the only Spartan to put forth an impressive night as
Mason Bourcier (Kelowna, B.C.) scored 26 points, adding eight assists, nine rebounds, and four steals.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Thunderbirds led in the first quarter, taking a 24-21 advantage over the Spartans.
UBC ended the first half leading 49-43 with Jack Cruz-Dumont hitting a buzzer-beating 3-point attempt from half court.
The Spartans were able to regain their footing in the third quarter, outscoring UBC 26-22.
The fourth quarter was wild. With 10 lead changes taking place in the final frame, it was the Spartans who came out on top of Saturday night's tilt. Still, there was no holding back from the Thunderbirds. With the Spartans up 94-91 with only 10 seconds remaining, Cruz-Dumont hit another crazy 3-pointer, shooting over two Spartans defenders, tying the game at 94 apiece.
Bourcier found Mihaila on an alley-oop play from the sideline, putting the Spartans up 96-94 to end the game.
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Trevor Pridie
"So proud of the guys. This is a big win for the program, and these guys work so hard. To come in and get a gutsy one like this is big. We shot well, and they did too, but I thought we were good defensively too.
"Big credit to David [Mutabazi] tonight, I thought he did really well on [James] Woods tonight. Trying to make his life tough is all you can ask for. I thought we had a number of guys step up on both ends of the floor. Mason [Bourcier] played a fantastic game – his pass to Vlad [Mihaila] was unbelievable. Lots of guys hit timely shots off the bench to stunt UBC's runs. We always had an answer, and we stayed composed. To come out on the right side of this one is awesome for us.
"This is a big win for the program. We're going ot keep trending and building the momentum from this win heading into Victoria. We want to end the semester strong."
NOTABLE
• The Spartans are 15-58 all-time against UBC.
• After Friday's game ended with low shooting percentages from both teams, it was a completely different story in Saturday's victory. The Spartans shot 48.6 percent from the field, and an astounding 58.3 percent from 3-point range. The Thunderbirds shot 57.4 percent from the field and 48.0 percent from three.
• This was TWU Head Coach
Trevor Pridie's first victory against a currently ranked opponent in the U SPORTS Top 10.
UP NEXT
The Spartans face a difficult task in No. 3-ranked Victoria (4-2) at the CARSA Performance Gym next weekend.
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 13 U SPORTS team championships and 32 Canada West team championships.
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