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UBCO Heat fall to UBC’s Thunderbirds

The second quarter pushed the Thunderbirds to their win
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File photos for UBC Okanagan Heat athletics

Triston Matthews finished with a double-double and Jarrett Larsen set a new career-high but the number four team in the country in the UBC Thunderbirds took the victory 103-69.

Matthews had 15 points and 10 boards while Larsen poured in 14 points on six shot attempts in his second consecutive start.

Similar to Friday night, it was the second quarter that did in the Heat as they trailed by just nine after the opening 10 minutes but were outscored 41-17 in the second.

It was the 10th straight win for the T-Birds who were led by fourth-year guard Jadon Cohee’s game-high 22 points.

Kelowna product Grant Shephard and Mason Bourcier each registered double-doubles with Shephard pouring in 17 points and adding 10 rebounds while Bourcier scored 16 points and dished out a game-high 10 assists.

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First half:

Much like the previous night Shephard made his presence felt early going sky high to block Triston Mathews’ drive to the hoop at one end before springing Clair on a fast break the other way resulting in the hoop and the harm, Clair converted on his free throw attempt to complete the three-point play and an early T-Birds 5-4 lead.

Manroop Clair and Cohee each chipped in with five points which included a three-pointer from Cohee while Okanlawon was perfect on his two attempts from three-point land and a team-leading six points for UBCO who in trailed 19-10 after the first quarter.

The T-Birds would pull away in the second quarter outscoring the Heat 41-17 thanks to some sharpshooting of 73 percent from the field making good on 16 of 22 attempts, this included hitting seven of their 10 three-point attempts and a sizzling 70 percent from distance.

Bourcier led the way breaking out for his first 14 points of the contest thanks to 6-8 shooting while hitting two of his three-point attempts. UBCO would hit three rainmakers as well courtesy of Okanlawon, Jacob Stokker, and Jarrett Larsen as the visitors stared down a 60-27 deficit heading into halftime.

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Second half:

The Heat were down but not out and put forth a spirited third quarter that saw them outscore the T-Birds 28-24 thanks to shooting a superb 75 percent from three-point land in hitting six of their eight attempts. Aldrich Berrios led the way for the Heat with 12 points, six of which were from beyond the arc as he was perfect on his two attempts.

For UBC it was Cohee setting the pace with nine points and Isaiah Familia’s perfect four for four shooting adding eight points for the hosts who led 84-55 after three quarters.

UBC would regain the edge in the final frame outscoring UBCO 19-14 en route to hitting the century mark for a second straight night and securing the 103-69 win.

What’s next:

With the victory, the T-Birds improve to 11-1 on the season while the Heat fall to 5-9. Next weekend UBCO are on the road again for back to back games at the University of Regina while the T-Birds will hit the highway to meet cross town rival Trinity Western for games Jan. 11 and 12.

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