VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds displayed the kind of fight worthy of back-to-back trips to the CIS national final in their exhibition opener against an athletic and much larger Minnesota Golden Gophers (NCAA) team but still came up on the short end of an 80-62 contest at War Memorial Gym on Thursday.
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The T-Birds spent the entire second half chipping away at the large lead the Gophers had built on the strength of lights-out three-point shooting. Although they couldn't pull all the way back, there were plenty of bright spots from both the new faces and veterans on the team.
Reigning CIS player of the year
Josh Whyte didn't miss a beat against the NCAA Div. 1 competition, leading the T-Birds with 20 points while adding seven rebounds. Red-shirt freshman
Tommy Nixon and Fraser Valley transfer
Doug Plumb also looked right at home, combining for 14 points and 11 rebounds.
UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson was impressed with the way his squad kept competing even as he rotated in many of his team's new faces to get an early taste of high-level competition.
"I'm proud of our guys for fighting back and we got a chance to play everybody," said Hanson. "You hate losing games, but I'm very happy with the effort and there were a lot of positives out there for only having had three practices."
Plumb, who added five assists, two blocks and two steals in a well-rounded effort, impressed in his first home game at War Memorial.
"His athleticism is outstanding, and that is something we have wanted to add to this team, and his intensity is going to add that bit of fire to us which is going to be big," Hanson said of Plumb.
The Gophers broke out of the starting gate on a 10-1 run, putting the T-Birds in a hole from the beginning of the game. Minnesota shot 53.3% from three in the first half as their lead ballooned to a game-high 27 in the second quarter. They were led by Ontario native Devoe Joseph, who shot 4-7 from beyond the arc in the game.
Back-to-back threes from Whyte and Nixon had the 'Birds going into halftime with some momentum, and they managed to further claw their way back into the game in the third, eventually cutting the Gophers' lead to just 13. But that was as close as they came, as Minnesota's presence in the paint made it tough for the T-Birds to go on any kind of run offensively, forcing them to settle for tough jumpers much of the game.
"It was a great opportunity for us to play such a big, physical team," said Hanson. "You're not going to face anybody bigger than that but our post guys were banging hard and even our freshmen did a good job of forcing them outside."
Joseph led the Gophers with 18 points, with fellow Canadian Mo Walker following closely with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The T-Birds' next home action is another exhibition game on October 15 against the Laurentian Voyageurs. Their CIS season opener is a rematch of last year's national final against Saskatchewan on October 22 at War Memorial Gym.
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