QUARTER-FINAL #1 CIS championship: Top-seeded UBC advances to third straight semifinal

Photo credit Nick Pearce

HALIFAX (CIS) – Logic was respected in the first quarter-final matchup of the CIS men’s basketball championship as the top-seeded University of British Columbia Thunderbirds defeated the No. 8 Acadia Axemen 96-77 at the Halifax Metro Centre, Friday afternoon.
 
Championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mbkb
 
With the win, the Canada West champion T-Birds advance to the national semifinals for the third year in a row. Looking for a first W.P. McGee Trophy since 1972, UBC has reached the CIS title match each of the past two seasons when the tournament was held in Ottawa, only to lose to Carleton in the 2009 final and to Saskatchewan a year ago.
 
The final score doesn’t indicate how close the game was for the first 30 minutes.
 
The Thunderbirds got all they could handle early on from the Atlantic finalist Axemen, who kept a subpar 7-13 record in the regular season but upset Cape Breton in overtime in the AUS semifinals to reach the Final 8 tourney.
 
UBC was only up 26-23 after the first quarter, 47-42 at halftime and 69-62 after 30 minutes, before outscoring its rivals 27-15 in the final frame.
 
“With our history here in Halifax, it’s kind of a relief to get that first game out of the way,” said Canada West coach of the year Kevin Hanson, whose troops had lost in the first round in each of their last four trips at the Metro Centre between 2003 and 2007. “You always expect your first game at Nationals to be close, at least in the first half. It’s your first time playing outside of your conference since Christmas, so you’re playing an opponent you’re not familiar with.”
 
Doug Plumb, a fourth-year guard from Pitt Meadows, B.C., in his first season with UBC, paced the winners with 20 points, including 14 in the second half.
 
First-team all-Canadian Josh Whyte of Calgary, who was the CIS MVP a year ago, was named player of the game following a 19-point, seven-rebound, six-assist effort.
 
Fifth-year forward Brent Malish of Langley, B.C., and guard Kamar Burke of Mississauga, Ont., also reached double figures in scoring with 17 and 13 points, respectively.
 
A trio of sophomores led the way for Acadia with Owen Klassen, a 6-foot-10 forward from Kingston, Ont., tallying a game-high 22 points, while Anthony Sears of Riverview, N.B., contributed 19 and Alexander McLaughlin of Dartmouth, N.S., 16.
 
“We did a much better job defensively in the second half,” said Hanson. “Klassen is a very good player and can score in so many different ways. We gave more help to our post players after the break and it slowed him down a bit.”
 
“We just didn’t play UBC basketball in the first half,” added Plumb, a transfer from Fraser Valley. “We settled down in the second half. We were much more composed.”
 
UBC shot 61.5 per cent from the floor on the afternoon, while Acadia clicked at a 43.9 per cent pace.
 
“We just couldn’t find a way to stop them. They had too many easy baskets,” commented Acadia head coach Stephen Baur, in his third season at the helm.
 
UBC led 47-42 at the end of a back-and-forth first half that included nine lead changes and seven ties.
 
Down 23-22 with just over a minute left in the opening quarter, the T-Birds went up 26-23 after 10 minutes thanks to a hook shot by Graham Bath and a pair of free throws by Malish.
 
Balraj Bains and Malish opened the second frame with back-to-back layups to complete an 8-0 UBC run and push the lead to 28-23.
 
Acadia hung in there however and was back on top with two minutes remaining in the half, at 40-38, following a Sears three-pointer.
 
Whyte responded with a three-point shot of his own and was fouled on the play. His ensuing free throw made it 42-40 UBC. He then dropped a 15-foot jumper at the buzzer to send the Canada West champions to the locker room with a five-point advantage.
 
In the third stanza, Burke made it 65-57 with a tough turnaround jumper but Klassen answered right back with a long three to cut the lead to 65-60.
 
UBC finally took its first double-digit lead of the contest one minute into the final quarter when a Whyte layup upped the T-Birds advantage to 73-62.
 
Plumb then scored four straight points to increase the cushion to 13, at 80-67, and the result was never in doubt after that point.
 
UBC led by as many as 22 when Malish drained a three-pointer with 90 seconds left to make it 94-72.
 
In Saturday’s early semifinal at 5 p.m. AST, the Thunderbirds will face either No. 4 Lakehead or No. 5 Trinity Western.
 
Acadia will battle the loser of Lakehead-TWU on the consolation side at noon AST.
 
STAT LEADERS
 
UBC
Points: Doug Plumb (20), Josh Whyte (19), Brent Malish (17)
Rebounds: Kamar Burke (8), Josh Whyte (7), Doug Plumb (7), Brent Malish (7)
Assists: Alex Murphy (6), Josh Whyte (6)
 
Player of the game: Josh Whyte
 
Acadia
Points: Owen Klassen (22), Anthony Sears (19), Alexander McLaughlin (16)
Rebounds: Thomas Filgiano (5)
Assists: Owen Klassen (3), Thomas Filgiano (3)
 
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE & RESULTS (All times ATLANTIC TIME)
 
Friday, March 11
 
Quarter-final #1: UBC 96, Acadia 77
15:15 Quarter-final #2: No. 5 Trinity Western vs. No. 4 Lakehead (SSN Canada webcast)
18:00 Quarter-final #3: No. 6 Dalhousie vs. No. 3 Saskatchewan (Live on TSN2)
20:15 Quarter-final #4: No. 7 Concordia vs. No. 2 Carleton (Live on TSN2)
 
Saturday, March 12
 
12:00 Consolation #1: Acadia vs. Loser QF #2
14:15 Consolation #2: Loser QF #3 vs. Loser QF #4
17:00 Semifinal #1: UBC vs. Winner QF #2 (TSN2 – tape delayed to 20:00 AST)
20:00 Semifinal #2: Winner QF #3 vs. Winner QF #4 (TSN2 – tape delayed to 22:00 AST)
 
Sunday, March 13
 
10:30 Consolation final (5th place)
13:15 Bronze medal game (SSN Canada webcast)
17:00 Championship final (TSN2 – tape delayed to 19:00 AST)
 
 
-CIS-