Scheduled Game: @British Columbia*

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GAME RESULTS 1 2 T Trinity Western 37 42 79 UBC 59 42 101 « FINAL

101

Game Recap

Men’s Basketball (Canada West)
Thursday, January 25, 2007
TWU Spartans (79) at the University of British Columbia (101)

DYCK SHINES FOR T-BIRDS
-UBC guard scores 34 in win over TWU

VANCOUVER – Third-year UBC guard Chris Dyck scored 27 first-half points and the sixth-ranked Thunderbirds hustled their way to a 101-79 victory over Trinity Western Thursday night at War Memorial Gym.

The win improves UBC to 16-2 in conference, first in the Pacific Division ahead of ninth-ranked Victoria (14-3) with the Vikes set to host Simon Fraser (9-9) Friday and Saturday. The loss drops TWU to 8-11, good enough for fourth place in the Pacific Division. The Spartans are two losses behind SFU and three wins ahead of UCFV, who host Calgary and Lethbridge this weekend.

Dyck counted 15 points in the first five-and-a-half minutes alone as the T-Birds jumped out to a 19-7 lead, and the Winnipeg native closed out the opening 20 minutes with 27 points on an impressive 11-of-14 shooting. It was one of the best single-half displays in program history, trailing only J.D. Jackson (34 points, 1989) and Casey Archibald (33, 2003) in the modern-day record book.

“It felt great,” said Dyck, who finished with 34 points, a season high for T-Bird shooters. “Today was just one of those games where I was open a lot and knocked down some shots. I felt really in the groove and it was probably my best game as a T-Bird.”

UBC shot nearly 70 per cent as a team in the opening frame and led 59-37 at the break. A Matt Rachar layup two minutes into the second half gave them their biggest lead at 65-39 but Trinity Western showed some fight, despite missing standout guard Brian Banman to injury. “Without Brian’s leadership we just weren’t ready to go to start the game,” said TWU Head Coach Stan Peters. “Right now we are struggling with being focused for a full 40 minutes.”

A smaller Spartans lineup was able to cause some problems with its penetration and TWU cut the deficit down to 11 points with a 19-4 run, capped by Jon Schmidt’s bucket with 8:40 to go. UBC, however, rattled off a quick 9-0 run to put the game out of reach with around seven minutes remaining.

“Stan [Peters] gets them very well prepared and you know you’re in for a fight no matter what time of the year it is, no matter what game it is,” UBC head coach Kevin Hanson said of the Spartans. “They’re always going to come and play hard and we have to be mentally ready to play another tough physical game (on Saturday).”

Rachar closed with 20 points and 11 rebounds for UBC, while Jason Birring and Casey Archibald each chipped in 10. Archibald’s points all came in the first half before he aggravated an old foot injury five minutes into the second and took the rest of the night off.

Luke Robinson poured in 25 points for the visitors, who also got 18 points from Schmidt and 10 from Michael Erickson.

The same two teams hit the floor at War Memorial Gym on Saturday at 8 p.m. (webcast).

Game Notes: On October 27 the two teams opened the Canada West season with a triple overtime game at TWU. The T-Birds prevailed 130-128...

-TW-

-contributions from UBC Sports Information

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