Larry Read, Thompson Rivers University Sports Information Officer

KAMLOOPS - The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack dropped their home and season opener in the Canada West Men's basketball. The 'Pack fell to the visiting University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 96-60 at the Tournament Capital Center on Friday night (Nov 4)

SYNOPSIS

Former WolfPack player Will Ondrik ( 5^th year, forward, Vernon, BC) returned for his final weekend in USports and paced the Thunderbirds with 17 points. UBC looking for a little retribution after losing to TRU in the 2015-16 Canada West final four. The 'Pack was led by Volodymyr Iegorov (5^th year, forward, Donetsk, Ukraine) with 16 points.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:

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KEY STATS:

Thompson Rivers

Volodymyr Iegorov 16 points, 4 rebounds (all def), 6-9 (FG-FGA) 5 assists, 1block and 1 steal 26 mins

Mike Rouault 10 points 6 rebounds (3 both ways), 3-4 (FT-FTA, 1 assist 1 block 1 steal 32 minutes

UBC :

Will Ondrik 17 points. 7-11 (FG-FGA) 2 steals 1 rebound 30 mins

Jordan Jensen-Whyte 13 points, 8 assists, 3 steals 6-11 (FG-FGA) 8 rebounds (5 offense) 29 mins

Taylor Browne 13 points, 4-6 (FG-FGA) 2 assists, 16 mins

Isaiah Famila 13 points 5-10 (FT-FTA), 9 rebounds (5 on def) 3 assists, 1 steaql 17 mins

QUOTES:

TRU head coach Scott Clark:

On the Contest:

"We got out physical led in the first half. They had more rebounds on our glass than we did. That doesn't bode very well."

UBC head coach Kevin Hanson:

On the Game:

"It was nice for us to come in on the road and get our first win tonight. I thought we competed really hard. Defensively, we were very physical. We shared the ball very well. We rebounded the ball well and through our stops we were able to get some stuff through transition and I thought we handled our zone really well."

On Play of Wil Ondrik:

"He had a great game. He was matched up with Vlad. Vlad is a tough match up for anybody. When we give him a defensive focus he seems to play well. He doesn't really have to worry about scoring. Tonight he scored as well which was a bonus. His family was in town tonight and he likes to play well when they are here. He did a great job getting his head into the game and being focused."

UP NEXT:

The WolfPack and Thunderbirds will wind up their weekend series Saturday (Nov 5) on the Warner Rentals Court at the Tournament Capital Centre. Tip off will be 7 pm. You can see the game on a pay per view basis by logging onto WWW.CanadawestTV. The pre-game show will be on the air around 6:45 pm.

Next weekend (Nov 11-12) Thompson Rivers will head to Manitoba to take on the Bisons. UBC has a bye week.