PRINCE GEORGE, British Columbia – Trinity Western fifth year guard Mason Bourcier (Kelowna, B.C.) scored 37 points, but it wasn't enough as the Spartans fell 85-69 to the UNBC Timberwolves Saturday night in Prince George, B.C. The loss means the TWU will settle for an opening weekend split with UNBC to start the Canada West season.
 
Bourcier finished the night shooting 50 percent, 16-32, from the field. But the rest of the Spartans struggled finding the bottom of the basket as they shot 24 percent, 12-49, as a group. TWU's Josh Belvin (Juice) (Long Beach, Calf.) added 10 points and seven rebounds to the Spartans cause. On the other side, the Timberwolves finished the night shooting 47.1 percent, 32-68. UNBC had five players hit double digits in scoring. Leading the way were Derren Hunter with 20 points and Fareed Shittu and Spencer Ledoux with 18 points each.
 
The Spartans trailed 22-18 after ten minutes and 42-34 at the half. TWU closed slightly after 30 minutes, but UNBC put the game to rest by outscoring the Spartans 21-14 in the final quarter for the 16-point win.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Trevor Pridie
"Sweeping a team is tough to pull off, especially in a good league like this. We're disappointed in our effort tonight. We didn't shoot well, the offense was stagnant and our defence wasn't very good. UNBC came out and played extremely hard and we weren't ready for it. We will get back to work on Monday. I'm excited to see the response from our guys this week."
 
NOTABLE
• The Timberwolves dominated the glass finishing with a 52-39 edge in rebounding. TWU had 13 turnovers to UNBC's 20.
• The Spartans are 4-13 lifetime against the Timberwolves.
• TWU finished the night shooting 34.6 percent (28-81) from the field, 20.7 percent (6-29), from the three-point line, and 77.8 percent from the foul line. While UNBC shot 47.1 percent (32-68), 26.3 percent (5-19), and 88.9 percent (16-18) respectively.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now head home for their CW home openers on November 11 and 12 when they will host the Lethbridge Pronghorns. Game times is set for 8 p.m. and 6 p.m. and can be seen live on CanadaWest.TV.
 
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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