Friday night in Edmonton, the UNBC Timberwolves (3-2) fell 89-74 to the Alberta Golden Bears (3-2). Alberta guard Brandon Meiklejohn led all scorers with 41 points – 23 of which came in the final quarter. Evgeny Baukin responded with a career-best 23 points for UNBC on 9/13 shooting while Darren Hunter (13), Justin Sunga (12) and Spencer Ledoux (11) all finished in double digits.
Todd Jordan’s squad led 23-16 after one. After a tentative start, the TWolves responded with a 21-6 run of points which was kick-started by a highlight-reel slam dunk from Evgeny Baukin. Baukin finished with seven first quarter points for UNBC. Lars Ishimwe recorded eight points in response for the Golden Bears. With the second winding down in the opening quarter, second-year guard Justin Sunga got the UNBC bench riled up with an incredible buzzer-beating three pointer to secure the seven-point cushion.
The Golden Bears answered with a 24-17 edge in the second quarter. The major catalyst for the hosts was Brandon Meiklejohn who recorded 10 second-quarter points, six of which came from a pair of threes. He led all Golden Bears with 12 first-half points. On the other side, Evgeny Baukin followed up a solid first quarter with five more points, including a three pointer. He finished the first half with a team-leading 13 points along with two rebounds and two assists. Halfway through the score was 40-40 with UNBC firing 46.4 percent (13/28) from the field with four threes.
A 14-2 run in the third quarter helped stake the TWolves to a 54-47 lead, but the Golden Bears chipped away, and a late three-pointer form Brandon Meiklejohn ensured that the two teams would head to the fourth quarter tied 59-59. Evgeny Baukin paced the UNBC attack in the third with seven more points and had 20 points after three. Six additional UNBC points came from the free-throw line. Alberta’s spark came from Brandan Meiklejohn who nailed two more threes in the third and led his team with 18 points heading into the final period.
The fourth quarter belonged to fifth-year Alberta guard Brandon Meiklejohn who exploded for 23 points in the fourth quarter alone while setting a new Alberta record for threes in a game. Six of his 10 successful three-pointers came in the final fame, as his stat line concluded with 41 points and 10/17 from downtown. Justin Sunga hit a pair of threes in the final quarter for UNBC while Evgeny Baukin drilled an early trey of his own to give him a new career-best 23 points.
Baukin’s 23-point effort earned him the Earls Player of the Game honours for UNBC who get another crack at the Golden Bears tomorrow evening at 6 pm PT.