RICHMOND - A short-handed UBC Thunderbirds squad dropped a 91-83 overtime decision to the San Diego Toreros (NCAA Div. I) at the Richmond Oval on Thursday afternoon in their first exhibition game of the 2010-11 season.
BOX SCORE
The two-time defending CIS finalists were without point guard
Josh Whyte, the 2009-10 CIS Player of the year,
Kamar Burke, a 2009-10 CIS Championship all-star, red-shirt freshman
Tommy Nixon and head coach
Kevin Hanson for this early start to the campaign.
With the absences, the T-Birds fielded a squad of 10 players that included two true freshman, one red-shirt freshman, and a transfer. UBC's short bench also suffered as veterans
Balraj Bains,
Brent Malish, and
Nathan Yu all fouled out of the contest.
The lack of depth finally caught up with the 'Birds in overtime as the Toreros opened the extra frame on an 8-0 run highlighted by six straight makes from the free throw line to take an 84-76 lead.
Graham Bath pulled the T-Birds to within five at 85-80 with 2:45 remaining in overtime but that was as close as the T-Birds got in trying to salvage the win.
Bath tied for the team lead with 18 points and led all players with 12 rebounds. UBC transfer
Doug Plumb also tallied 18 points thanks in large part to his 12-of-16 performance from the free throw line.
Alex Murphy and Yu also cracked double figures with 14 and 10 points respectively.
Ken Racifer led the the visitors with 21 points off the bench and a team-high seven rebounds. The Toreros end their three game BC trip with a 2-1 record following a victory over TRU on Monday and loss to UFV on Wednesday.
UBC led the entire first half, however, a late charge by San Diego trimmed UBC's advantage to 37-34 at the break. The Toreros took their first lead on a Matt Dorr layup with seven minutes left in the third and the game remained tight the rest of the way.
With the game knotted at 74-74, Trevor Fuller hit a pair of free throws to put San Diego up two with 14 seconds left. Murphy responded for the 'Birds, sending the game to overtime with a left handed lay-in that banked in high off the backboard with six seconds left to play in regulation.
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