Saturday night in Langley, the UNBC Timberwolves (1-17) wrapped up their weekend with a 93-63 defeat at the hands of the Trinity Western Spartans (10-8). Spartans senior Josh Belvin set a new single-game scoring record for the Spartans by posting 43 points (18-35 shooting) while fellow senior Jerric Palma chimed in with 19. Evgeny Baukin led the way with 13 points for UNBC while first-year forward Wesley Ainu’u impressed with eight points, five rebounds and a game-high four blocks.
The Spartans jumped out to a narrow 17-15 lead on the strength of nine points, four steals and three rebounds from Belvin. Jerric Palma added a pair of triples for the hosts. Todd Jordan’s club at one point trailed 14-5 but answered with a 9-2 run to get back close. Baukin led the way for the TWolves with eight first-quarter points while Josh Gillespie and Milan Pasquale each grabbed three boards.
The floodgates opened in the second quarter as Trinity Western outscored UNBC by a 31-19 margin. The three-ball played a huge role on both sides of the floor as Trinity Western hit seven from deep while UNBC countered with three. Back-to-back triples from UNBC’s Ben White momentarily pushed the TWolves ahead, but a 14-0 run for Trinity Western restored momentum for the hosts. Belvin tacked on 13 more and led all scorers at half with 22 points. Palma was equally threatening as he nailed a trio of threes in the second, and he went into the tunnel with 17. UNBC’s first-half scoring leader was Baukin with eight, while White was next with six. Ainu’u had grabbed a team-leading five rebounds for UNBC.
The score at halftime showed Trinity Western ahead 48-34. UNBC shot 13-for-27 (48.1 percent) from the field in the first half while the Spartans went 19-of-44 (43.2 percent).
Trinity Western outscored UNBC 23-8 in the third quarter and once more it was Belvin doing the lion’s share of the work. The senior shot four-of-seven in the third and added nine to his totals in the process, giving him 31 total points. In response for UNBC, Baukin supplied two of the four made field goals, giving him 13 points.
The major question heading into the fourth quarter for the hosts was whether Josh Belvin would be able to surpass the previous school record for points in a single game (42 – Jacob Doerksen, 2010). Thanks to a pair of threes and five fourth-quarter buckets altogether, Belvin would finish with 43, helping him surpass Doerksen and giving the soon-to-be graduating senior a nice regular season sendoff. For UNBC, Danilo Gonzalez led all fourth-quarter scorers with five points while five others found the scoresheet in what would end up being their highest scoring quarter of the night. When the final bell sounded the score showed 93-63 for Trinity Western.
Next up for UNBC – their final homestand of the season which begins Friday, February 14 at 8:00 pm against the UBC Thunderbirds.