Friday night at the Northern Sports Centre, the UNBC Timberwolves Men’s basketball team (2-1) cruised to a 97-66 victory over the visiting MacEwan Griffins (0-5). Six TWolves finished with double digit points while guard Justin Sunga matched a UNBC single-game record with 10 assists. The top scorer for MacEwan was Milan Jaksic who notched a game-high 21 points to accompany nine rebounds.
Eight different TWolves registered points in the opening quarter as the hosts rushed out to a 27-16 lead over the Griffins. Spencer Ledoux led the attack with five points along with four boards while Justin Sunga nabbed three assists. Milan Jaksic responded with nine points for GMU on 4/9 shooting. UNBC held the Griffins to 33.3 percent shooting in the opening quarter and forced the visitors to make seven turnovers.
With the score 27-22 for UNBC, the hosts caught a wave of momentum. Josh Gillespie, Evgeny Baukin, Justin Sunga and Darren Hunter all scored to force an 11-0 run and helped increase the TWolves lead to 16 points. On the defensive side of the floor, Evgeny Baukin provided two big blocks in quick succession underneath the rim to keep the home crowd energized. Baukin’s impact was equally impressive on the offensive side of the floor as he led all TWovles with 11 points at the half-way mark. The score at halftime was 49-33 for UNBC.
The floodgates opened further in the third quarter as UNBC outscored GMU by a 29 – 17 margin. Darren Hunter drilled a pair of threes and added a steal and led all TWolves with 15 points at the end of three. Other third quarter highlighted included an emphatic dunk from Will Keyes and four assists from Justin Sunga. For MacEwan Milan Jaksic added four more points to his team-leading totals and had 17 through three.
A milestone moment occurred halfway into the fourth quarter when Justin Sunga tied a UNBC Timberwolves single-game record with his 10th assist. It came in spectacular fashion after an alley-oop feed to Evgeny Baukin. For Sunga it marked the second time in the calendar year that he accomplished that feat. Sunga also snagged 10 assists on January 23rd against Mount Royal. Sunga’s Friday stat line ended with 14 points, 10 assists and four steals. He was also a team-best +29 en route to a Mr. Mikes Player of the Game performance.
When the final horn sounded, the TWolves were able to celebrate a well deserved 97-66 victory. Spencer Ledoux finished as the top UNBC scorer with 16 points while Josh Gillespie bagged 12 rebounds.
The TWolves and Griffins will clash once again Saturday evening in Prince George at 7 p.m.