KELOWNA, British Columbia – Led by Canada West leading scorer Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath's 32 points and nine rebounds the Trinity Western Spartans defeated the UBC Okanagan Heat 79-68 Thursday night at the UBC Okanagan Gym in Kelowna, B.C. The victory improves TWU to 7-9, and keeps their hopes of a first round play-off bye intact, while the loss drops the Heat to 2-13 in Canada West conference play.
 
In addition to Gilbreath TWU had strong performances from Tre Fillmore with 17 points and Mason Bourcier with nine points, 16 rebounds, and five assists. While Kevin Hamlet with 15 points and seven rebounds and Jalen Shirley with 12 points led the charge for the Heat.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The two teams exchanged baskets over the opening five minutes with the two teams tied at 11-11 at the midway point of the quarter. TWU took a 19-16 lead with 1:20 to go in the quarter, but neither team was able to find the bottom of the hoop as the Spartans took the three point lead into the break. The Spartans shot 36.8 percent 7-19 from the field and 33.3 percent, 3-9, from the three point line, while the Heat shot 19.2 percent 5-26 from the field and 20 percent, 2-10, from the three point line. UBC-O out rebounded TWU 20-15 in the opening quarter.
 
With 6:30 remaining in the half, TWU held a two point, 22-20 lead. The Spartans built the lead to six point, 30-24 with just over three minutes remaining. With a minute remaining TWU had extended the lead to nine point, 35-26, but neither team was able to score after that as the Spartans took a solid lead into the half-time break. TWU shot 31.3 percent, 5-16, from the field in the second quarter and 22.2 percent from the three point line, while UBC-O shot 26.3 percent, 5-19, and 0 percent, 0-6, respectively. For the half the Spartans shot 34.3 percent, 12-35, and 27.8 percent, 5-18, while the Heat shot 22.2 percent, 10-45, and 12.5 percent, 2-16. Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath led the Spartans with 13 points and eight rebounds, while Kevin Hamlet led the Heat with nine points and three rebounds.
 
The Spartans came out strong to start the third quarter and quickly extended their lead to 15 points, 41-26 and forced the Heat to take a timeout. The Heat were better after the timeout and with 1:30 minutes remaining had cut the lead to a two possession deficit trailing, 49-44, with a 18-7 run. The Spartans would get the final four points and were able to go into the final break leading by nine points, 53-44. TWU shot 40 percent, 6-15, from the field and 16.7 percent, 1-6 from the three point line in the quarter, while UBC-O shot 26.3 percent, 5-19, from the field and 50 percent, 2-4, from the three point line.
 
Trinity Western continued their run to start the fourth quarter and with five minutes remaining had built their lead back to 13 points, leading 62-49. TWU continued to run away from UBC-O and after seven straight points had built their lead to 20 points, 69-49. For the next two minutes, the Heat dominated the Spartans and cut the lead to eight points, 71-63 with an impressive 14-2 run. The Spartans withstood the Heats pressure down the stretch and hit their free throws to earn the 11 point victory. TWU shot 40 percent, 8-20, from the field and 12.5 percent, 1-8, from the three point line, and 9-9 from the foul line in the fourth quarter. UBC-O shot 30.4 percent, 7-23, from the field, 20 percent, 2-10, from the three point line and 80 percent, 8-10, from the foul line in the final quarter.
 
NOTABLE

• The Spartans ran into foul trouble down the stretch with both posts, Andrew Goertzen and Connor Platz fouling out with 3:30 remaining.
• .TWU's last season at .500 or better was 2012-13, when they finished at 12-10.
• The Spartans finished the night shooting 37.1 percent, 26-70, from the field, 21.9 percent, 7-32, from the three point line, and 80 percent, 20-25, from the foul line. While the Heat finished at 25.3 percent, 22-87, 20 percent, 6-30, and 72 percent, 18-25, respectively.
• The Heat had the edge in rebounds 60-54.
• Gilbreath currently leads Canada West in scoring at 26.9 points per game, D. Dayrit, Winnipeg, is second at 19.6 points per game.
• Mason Bourcier leads CW in assists per game at 7.7.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Trevor Pridie
"I thought it was a good gritty team win for us tonight. Nice to get a road win, especially traveling on the same day. It's the first time on the road in a long time for this group. Nice to be on the road as a group and as a team. Good battle tonight. I thought we didn't play great or shoot the ball particularly well. But our defence got us a win tonight, which was huge for us."
 
"I thought Q probably played his best game that he has played on both ends of the floor. I thought he was really good defensively and as usual he was phenomenal offensively. Mason was a monster. Super talented, he played so well."
 
"Andrew and Connor gave us good minutes at the five, obviously both fouled out, but it was cool to see Sam step in at the end of the game and have to close out a game that was in the midst of a big momentum swing when UBC-O was coming back. So those were huge minutes for him."

UP NEXT
The Spartans will have a quick turnaround as they will head to Kamloops, B.C. on Wednesday, February 16 to play the Thompson Rivers WolfPack in a make-up game from January 8^th postponed match-up. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Tournament Capital Centre. The game 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 12 U SPORTS team championships and 29 Canada West team championships.
 
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