LANGLEY – Saturday night in Langley, the UNBC Timberwolves men (8-10) wrapped up a weekend double-header with an 80-69 loss to the Trinity Western Spartans (4-14). David Mutabazi (21) and Tyler Sipma (19) combined for 40 Spartan points while Josh Gillespie, Darren Hunter and Evgeny Baukin all reached double-digits for UNBC. A 14-0 run in the fourth quarter helped create the necessary separation to give the Spartans the weekend sweep.
Through 10 minutes, Trinity held a slim 15-11 edge. The first quarter saw nine combined field goals (five for TWU, four for UNBC). The Spartans kicked things off with a 5-0 run after a three from Mitch Morgan and a jumper from Vlad Mihaila. Darren Hunter, who was inserted into the starting lineup for UNBC to provide a spark, bagged the first field-goal of the night for the visitors on a layup. Evgeny Baukin had four first quarter points (a three and a free-throw) for the TWolves to lead the team. After Chris Ross and David Mutabazi traded threes, the Spartans led 13-11. A Josh Belvin layup rounded out the scoring as TWU led 15-11. Defensively, Connor Platz had three first quarter blocks for TWU while Baukin snagged four rebounds for UNBC.
UNBC started the second quarter on an 11-2 run with Baukin (7) and Spencer Ledoux (4) doing the damage. Baukin hit a triple, a layup and a dunk while Ledoux hit two shots from in close, giving UNBC a 22-17 lead. TWU responded with a 7-0 run of their own after four points from Mihaila and an ‘And 1’ sequence from Belvin. Josh Gillespie then got hot for the TWolves as he recorded all nine of his first-half points in the sequence of a few minutes. The Idaho product notched a three, and a pair of ‘And 1’ conversions. The top player for Trinity in the second was Mutabazi, who snagged eight points en route to a slim 32-31 TWU half-time advantage. After 20 it was Baukin and Mutabazi leading the way for their respective clubs with 11 points. Baukin added a team-high seven boards for UNBC while Connor Platz led all rebounders at half with eight.
Trinity Western started the third with a near identical 5-0 run as they had in the first. Once again it was a layup from Mihaila and a three from Morgan that got things started. The TWolves answered with five of their own – Ross with three and Ledoux with two. After a four-point swing back in TWU’s favour, Darren Hunter hit back-to-back jumpers which got Todd Jordan’s club within one. The hosts responded though with a 6-0 run – four from Mutabazi (off a three and a free-throw) and two from rookie Tyler Sipma. Hunter’s third basket of the quarter moved the gap to four, but early quarter foul trouble got UNBC into the penalty, and TWU tacked on four points via free throw to make it an eight-point lead. A late single Hunter free throw rounded out the scoring as TWU led 51-44 after three.
The early moments of the fourth quarter belonged entirely to Sipma who scored the first 15 points of the quarter for Trinity Western. That span of points included a trio of threes, as part of an 11-0 run. Marcus Shankar added a three to end Sipma’s streak, but all of a sudden the Spartans had a 20-point cushion. A Hunter triple ended the run for TWU, but at that point the damage was done. Despite multiple fourth quarter buckets from Gillespie, Ross and Hunter, the closest the TWolves could get was 11, as the final score read 80-69 for the Spartans when all was said and done.
The top scorer on the night for either side was Trinity’s Mutabazi who finished with 21 points. Sipma added 19 off the bench while Connor Platz had 10 points and 18 rebounds. Josh Gillespie filled the UNBC box score with a team-leading 15 points and 15 rebounds while Evgeny Baukin also added a double-double with 13 and 11. Seven of UNBC’s 15 assists on Saturday came from Darren Hunter who earned Earls Road Warrior of the Game honours.
Todd Jordan’s club will now turn their attention to the Saskatchewan Huskies and the Friday, Saturday home double-header that awaits them next weekend at the NSC. Friday night is Black Heritage Night. And admission is free with the purchase of the Timberwolves new Black Heritage t-shirts that are on sale now. Saturday is both Seniors and Fan Appreciation Night.