To win their second game of the season the UBC Okanagan Heat defeated the same team that they notched their first ever Canada West men's basketball win against in the visiting University of Regina Cougars on Saturday night, by a final score of 79-70 in the UBC Okanagan gymnasium.
The Saturday UBCO win, much like in last night's contest, was close in the final moments of the fourth quarter, but this time with the Heat holding the lead instead of trying to come back. With the clock winding down, UBCO were able to make a number of free throws and play lock-down defence to maintain their nearly-double-digit lead. The home side was able to close out the final minute, and earned a nine-point victory.
The fourth quarter started with the Heat up nine points (54-45), before Aldrich Berrios made a free throw resulting from a technical foul to put the lead into double digits once again. The Cougars pulled within four with five minutes left in the game, after Brandon Tull made the score 61-57 for the Heat.
Berrios and Johnson then traded three-pointers to make it 64-60 with four minutes left. Berrios then made another three, a pair of free-throws, and a jump shot, around a Tull made free-throw, to stretch the lead to 10. Buzz Truss then went on a tear of his own, making four free-throws and a layup in less than minute to maintain the Heat lead. Johnson scored again, on a converted and-one, but a pair of Berrios free-throws with 31 seconds left put the game out of reach and sealed the victory for UBC Okanagan.
In that historic first UBC Okanagan win back in November of 2011 the Heat bumped off the Cougars 78-76, leading the team in scoring that night was Yassine Ghomari with 16 points, Ghomari has since returned to the Heat program as an assistant coach after playing two years professionally in Australia.
Tonight it was Aldrich Berrios who had the team high for UBCO. The third year guard scored 13 of his team-high 21 points in the pivotal final quarter.
Regina's Johneil Johnson was the highest scorer in the game, putting up 23 points. Behind him for Regina were Brian Ofori and Brandon Tull, who each scored 14.
Berrios, just like on Friday, was a solid one-two punch with fifth year guard Mitch Goodwin, also finished in double digits with 18 points. Triston Matthews was the game's rebounds and assists leader, finishing with seven and three respectively, and the first year wing was one of three UBCO players to finish with nine points.
Matt Lafontaine and Austin Penrose were the other two with nine on the evening.
As a team, the Heat had the better shooting night. The home side finished with the better field goal percentage (49% - 43.4%), three-point percentage (50% - 29.2%), and free-throw percentage (75.9% - 65.4%). UBCO also finished with the edge in rebounds (32-30), and assists (11-8), while Regina had the advantage in steals (14-9) and blocks (2-0).
The UBC Okanagan Heat men were able to take control in the first half, scoring 28 of the games first 39 points and ultimately taking a double-digit lead into the break. Mitch Goodwin got the scoring in the game started, with a three-pointer as the first basket just 20 seconds in. It was quickly answered by a Brandon Tull three-pointer for the Cougars, setting the tone for the half. Shots and points went back and forth, but the Heat were able to stay ahead throughout the remainder of the half, and stretched their lead through twenty minutes to 12 points, despite a converted and-one quickly followed with a steal and three-point attempt by Johneil Johnson with just seconds left before the break.
The UBC Okanagan Heat men (2-10) will play their next games at home, as they will host the University of Victoria Vikes (3-7) on January 13 & 14. The University of Regina Cougars (6-4) will play their next games at home as well, when they host the University of Manitoba Bisons (4-6) on the 13th and 14th.
The UBC Okanagan Heat and the UBC Thunderbirds faced off in the most recent match of the institutional rivalry on Saturday night, as the Vancouver side locked up a weekend sweep with a straight sets victory on their home court in the War Memorial gym. Set scores were 25-23, 25-18, and 25-23.
The third and final set was the most closely contested, as the Heat were almost able to complete a comeback and take back set point from the Thunderbirds. Down 24-18, the UBCO side were able to string together five straight points, two of which came on Devon Cote kills, to pull within a point at 23-24. A Joel Regehr kill, though, his fourth of the match, closed out the match with the final point of the clinching set.
Kills in the match were 35-26 in favour of UBC, who also had the better hitting percentage at .209, while UBCO hit .071 for the night. Blocks were another key for the T-Birds, as they finished with eight and the Heat finished with three. The Heat finished ahead in digs (36-33), but the Thunderbirds bested them in assists (32-23), and service aces (8-5).
Individually, UBC’s Mat Guidi led all hitters in the match, putting away 12 kills, and Irvan Brar was next-highest with nine. For the Heat Alex Swiatlowski, Lars Bornemann, and Devon Cote led the way with seven, six, and five kills respectively. Brar also finished with an impressive four service aces in the match, and UBC setter Byron Keturakis had the most assists with 25.
A closely contested first set saw the Heat take their largest lead at 14-10 after a pair of three-point runs. They held the lead until the UBC attack picked up late, scoring three kills in the final five points to close out the frame, with Mat Guidi supplying the final hammer.
The second set saw the home side firmly in command, jumping quickly out to a 4-0 lead. Another four-point run saw the Thunderbirds take a big 9-2 lead, before following that up with five straight to jump ahead 14-3. The Heat were never able to make up the ground, and errors did them in as a three-point run that included two UBCO attack errors and a Joel Regehr kill closed out the set.
The Heat (4-8) will travel to Winnipeg to take on the Wesmen (4-8) for their next matches, on January 13 & 14. The UBC Thunderbirds (8-4) will be on the road as well, playing the University of Manitoba Bisons (11-1) on those same dates.
The Heat fell 80-60 to the University of Regina Cougars in the UBC Okanagan gymnasium on Saturday night. Similar to Friday night's matchup, the visitors once again came alive in the second half. The Heat were able to maintain control for much of the first 20 minutes of play, but after a quick burst after half-time, Regina came out swinging and turned the momentum well in their favour.
The Heat got the scoring started in the second half, with Kennedy making a jump shot at 9:25 in the third quarter and Kanester making her first three-pointer of the game a minute later to make it a one-possession game at 37-34 for the Cougars. Regina then went on a bit of a tear, scoring 11 unanswered points to go up 48-34 halfway through the quarter. A converted Botteselle and-one cut Regina’s lead to 16 (55-39) with about two minutes left in the frame, but the Cougars offence, aided by a Katie Polischuk three-pointer with just over a minute left, stretched their lead to 14 heading into the final quarter, up 59-43 at the buzzer.
A pair of three-pointers from Kennedy and Kanester in the first minute and a half of the fourth quarter cut the Regina lead to single digits (60-51), before Christina McCusker answered with free throws and a layup to put the Cougars up 12 (63-51) at the 7:00 mark. The Regina defence was able to hold the Heat to just nine points from that point on, and thanks to an effective offence and only missing one free-throw in the final seven minutes, the Cougars were able to stretch their lead to 20 by the final buzzer.
Regina’s Kyanna Giles led all scorers in the game with 18 points and finished just a rebound shy of a double-double. Christina McCusker (11), Katie Polischuk (10), and Avery Pearce (10) also finished with double digits in points for the visitors.
For the Heat, Emily Kanester led the way with 15 points, with Vanessa Botteselle (14) and Chloe Kennedy (13) also finishing in double digits. Jordan Korol was the most effective on the glass, finishing with seven rebounds.
As a team, the Heat shot better from three-point range (38.5% - 30.4%) and from the free-throw line (90.5% - 61.8%). The Cougars finished with the better field goal percentage (41.3% - 33.3%). Rebounds (45-35), assists (13-6), and steals (18-6) were also categories led by Regina on the night.
The first half was split pretty evenly, with the Heat holding a lead (18-17) after the first quarter and the Cougars taking the lead (37-29) into half-time. Statistically, UBCO had a slightly better first twenty minutes, with the advantage in field goal percentage (31.6% - 30.3%) and free throw percentage (88.9% - 68.4%), while the Cougars held better three-point percentage (36.4% - 33.3%).
The ball control was also nearly even, with the Cougars holding a slight advantage in rebounds (20-19), while the Heat were able to put up more second chance points (6-4). Turnovers were an issue for UBCO in the first half, giving the ball up 19 times while only taking it away from Regina 11 times. The ability to steal the ball was a key part of the Cougars’ lead after twenty minutes of play, as they were able to record 13 steals while holding the Heat to just four.
The Heat (2-10) will play their next games at home again, when they host the University of Victoria Vikes (6-4) on Friday, January 13 and Saturday, January 14. Regina (8-2) will play their next games at home as well, when they host the University of Manitoba Bisons (1-9) on the 13th and 14th.
The latest installment of the UBC – UBCO rivalry was a 3-1 victory for the Thunderbirds on Saturday night in Vancouver’s War Memorial gym. Set scores were 25-18, 20-25, 25-17, and 25-15.
The Heat were held to 37 kills on a .057 hitting percentage through the match, while the Thunderbirds put away 41 on .148. UBC also held the edge in blocks (10-9), digs (44-38), service aces (15-3), and assists (37-36). The Heat only hit double digits in kills once, with 13 in the second set, while the Thunderbirds were only held to single digits once, with eight in the second set as well.
Danielle Brisebois was far and away the best hitter on Saturday night, putting away 16 kills on a .278 percentage. Behind her, Maggie Li and Laura MacTaggart each finished with eight and seven kills respectively. Li also had an exceptional five service aces in the match.
Siobhan Fitzpatrick led the Heat attack, putting away nine kills. Michelle Jakszuk and Megan Festival rounded out the top three hitters for UBCO, with seven and six kills respectively. Fitzpatrick and Samantha Patko led the match in digs, with 12, and Jakszuk was tied for the most blocks, as she and Li each finished with five total blocks.
The fourth set saw the UBC side at their most dominant, as they never allowed the Heat to string together more than two consecutive points. The Thunderbirds were able to string together runs of their own consistently, with a four-point run to stretch their lead to 10-5, then with back-to-back three-point runs to go up 17-10 and then 20-11. Li was able to put away her seventh kill to score the final point of the match.
The Heat earned their lone set victory in the second, thanks primarily to a seven-point run to come from down 13-14 to go up 19-14. That run involved a rare stretch of mistakes by the Thunderbirds, as four attack errors came amidst two Heat kills and a Kaitlynn Given service ace. Three kills and another service ace, this time from Skye Thompson, provided four of the final five points to close out the set win.
The first set saw the Heat jump out to an early lead, before the teams traded points and leads for the majority of the set. The key for UBC in the opening frame was being able to string together points, as they went on three- and four-point runs in the latter half of the set to pull ahead. Errors were an issue for the Heat in the first, and the final point for the T-Birds came on UBCO’s 11th of the frame.
The penultimate set was closely contested for the most part, as both teams were able to string together points thanks to efficient attacking. The big difference in the set was a pair of runs by UBC. The first came early on, when the ‘Birds put together six straight to take back the lead and go up 10-5. The second was the more impactful, as they strung together five points to take it 25-17.
The Heat (8-4) will play their next matches on the road again, this time travelling east to take on the University of Winnipeg Wesmen (1-11) on January 13 & 14. The UBC Thunderbirds (9-3) will play at home on those same days, when they host the Trinity Western Spartans (11-1).
If you get value from KelownaNow and believe local independent media is important to our community we ask that you please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter.
If you appreciate what we do, we ask that you consider supporting our local independent news platform.
