Scheduled Game: BRITISH COLUMBIA*

99

GAME RESULTS 1 2 3 4 5 T British Columbia 22 19 23 22 13 99 « FINAL Trinity Western 20 22 23 21 4 90

90

Game Recap

Men's Basketball (Canada West)
Saturday, January 25, 2008
TWU Spartans (90) vs. University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (99)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

T-BIRDS ESCAPE WITH OVERTIME VICTORY OVER SPARTANS
- Robinson goes off, Brouwer sets block record

LANGLEY, British Columbia - The sixth ranked University of British Columbia Thunderbirds got all they could handle from the Trinity Western University Spartans, as they had to come from behind to force overtime before eventually escaping a raucous David E. Enarson Gymnasium with a 99-90 victory. Both the Spartans and T-Birds had a shot to win the game at the end of regulation, but had them rattle out.

"The kids played their hearts out tonight, and there's no shame in how they played," said TWU head coach Pat Lee of the team's attempt in the final seconds. "We've only had 10 or 11 practices with this group, and if we'd have had a little more time we would have had that kind of end-of-game situation taken care of, and we'll definitely work on that next week."

The rest of the Spartans effort was top-notch, as they went blow for blow with one of the best teams in the conference. UBC led 22-20 after one quarter, and then the Spartans, on the strength of their defense and three-point shooting, took the lead into halftime at 42-41, as two rookies led them in scoring. Matt Myers (Tumwater, Wash.) scored all 11 of his points, and Jon Loewen (Abbotsford, B.C.) had 10 at the half as the two combined for five of their team's seven first half threes. Brent Malish (Langley, B.C.) and Kyle Watson (Richmond, B.C.) each had 10 points at the break for UBC.

TWU scored twelve of the first 15 points of the third quarter to lead 54-45. UBC would spend the rest of the quarter chipping away at the lead, and by the end of the third, their deficit was back down to one at 65-64. Malish scored 10 of his game high 21 in the third, and Luke Robinson (Ahousat, B.C.), who was saddled with foul trouble in the first half, scored nine points in the quarter.

Robinson, who has played fourth quarter hero over the years for the Spartans, was just getting warmed up, as he pumped in 13 of his game high 27 points in the fourth, including a three pointer that put the Spartans up 84-81 with 1:23 left. But UBC responded immediately with what was really the play of the night for the T-Birds, as leading scorer Chris Dyck (Winnipeg), who had scored just four points on 2-12 shooting to that point, buried a three pointer of his own to tie the game at 84. Jason Keegstra (Vernon, B.C.) hit a turnaround jumper in the paint with 36 seconds left to put TWU up two, but again the veteran UBC squad had answers, as they got a free throw, a defensive stop, and then a Dyck free throw to tie the game at 86 with 19 seconds to go.

TWU had a chance for the last shot, as Robinson took a contested 18 footer from the top of the key that rimmed out with 5 seconds left. Brett Leversage (Delta, B.C.) grabbed the rebound for the T-Birds and raced to the other end, letting a shot go as time expired, but that too missed, forcing overtime.

In the extra session, each team scored two baskets to make it 90-90, and then UBC took over, scoring the final nine points to escape with a victory.

Despite the loss, Lee was impressed with his team's effort, especially from his fifth year leader Robinson, who finished with 27 points, including four threes.

"In all my years of coaching I don't think I've seen a young man that responds to the challenge like he does," Lee said of Robinson. "He's just a phenomenal player and a wonderful person."

Michael Brouwer notched his second consecutive double-double with 13 points, 14 rebounds, and also set a TWU single game record with five blocks while Loewen finished with 17 points, five boards and three assists. UBC was led by Malish with 21 points and 12 boards, and Watson with 20 points and five rebounds.

The two teams meet for the third and final time Saturday night at TWU's David E. Enarson Gymnasium at 8 p.m.

Game Notes- Robinson moved into fifth place on TWU's all-time scoring list with 925 points, passing Josh Hall ('01)...Brouwer holds TWU's career block record with 62...Malish led UBC in rebounding for the tenth time this season...The game was broadcast live on gospartans.ca.

-TW-

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