Scheduled Game: @British Columbia - PACIFIC DIVISION SEMI-FINAL

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GAME RESULTS 1 2 T Trinity Western 41 37 78 UBC 36 48 84 « FINAL

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Game Recap

Men’s Basketball (Canada West Playoffs)
Saturday, February 17, 2006
TWU Spartans (78) at the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (84)

SPARTANS SEASON CLOSES OUT AT UBC
-Valiant effort falls short in final game of season.

VANCOUVER – The fifth-ranked UBC men’s basketball team rallied from a five-point deficit at the half to advance to the Pacific Division finals with an 84-78 triumph over Trinity Western Saturday night at War Memorial Gym. The Thunderbirds (20-3 CW, 2-0 playoffs) swept the best-of-three series with the Spartans (9-14 CW, 0-2 playoffs).

“Our kids battled right through to the end of the game,” said TWU Head Coach Stan Peters. The Spartans who found out that they had lost Joe Vroom to injury just before tip off remained determined throughout the game.
“The guys just kept rallying and rallying and we finished of as hard as we could. I’m proud of the way we played; never stopping, never quitting, and never giving up.”

With all the injuries that the Spartans have had to deal with over the last month, they could have easily come out and not play determined basketball - Especially when they fell behind 16-9 early in the contest.

But TWU rallied and used their intense defensive pressure to force UBC into a number of turnovers. The Spartans were able to convert their chances as they went on a 23 to 10 run to take a 32-26 lead with just under five minutes remaining in the half. The Thunderbirds were able to tie the contest at 33-33 with just over two minutes remaining, but the Spartans remained unfazed as they were able use another short run to take a five point lead into the break.

Trailing 41-36 through 20 minutes of play, the Point Grey squad came out of the locker room and quickly erased the Spartans advantage before replacing it will a 10-point edge of their own, 53-43.

The T-Birds extended their lead to as many as 14 points, 67-53, with 7:57 to play but the never-say-die Spartans refused to surrender. TWU steadily closed the gap as the half worn on, finally trimming the deficit to four, 80-76, with just over a minute to go on a Luke Robinson three-pointer. But the visitors were forced to foul and Archibald made no mistake from the line, hitting four consecutive free throws to secure the victory.

Archibald led the home side’s multifaceted attack with 22 points, 15 of which came in the final frame, on 6-of-11 shooting and a 9-of-12 mark from the stripe. Rachar had a big game at the forward position, turning in a double-double with 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, while Dyck chipped in 13 points and 10 rebounds. Kool finished with 15 points in 20 minutes and Birring added 11 coming in off the bench.

Robinson paced the Spartans with 21 points while Trevor Nerdahl had 10. Lance Verhoeff tallied eight points and a team-high seven rebounds. Playing through injury Brian Banman, TWU’s leading scorer in conference play, was held relatively silent for the second straight night, contributing only five points before fouling out.

The Spartans put up 68 shots in the contest, including a whopping 37 tries from beyond the arc, but managed to hit a meager 34 per cent. They netted 30 per cent of their threes.

Game Notes: in addition to Vroom the Spartans were also without Jon Schmidt – ACL tear and Michael Erickson – ankle, while Banman’s abilities were considerable diminished do to a back injury...

-TW-
-contributions from UBC Sports Information.

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