WOLFPACK MBB HAMMERED BY UBC
 
For immediate release: January 3,2009

Kamloops BC—The new year didn’t start out on a very positive note for the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack Men’s Basketball team.  The WolfPack were shown why the UBC Thunderbirds are on top in the Canada West Pacific Division.  The number two nationally ranked T-birds downed the WolfPack 106-51, winning their 11th game in 12 starts.  TRU falls to 2 and 11.

“One of the goals we set this year was to become a better defensive oriented team, “ said Thunderbird coach Kevin Hanson.  “At times we aren’t worried about the ability to score as a team: we’ve proven that. We want to keep teams under  17 points per quarter and that was our goal.  We held TRU to five in the first quarter.  That was our goal in this game as we try to change the mindset of our players to become more defensive oriented.”

UBC led 53-20 at the break as Josh Whyte (3rd year, Calgary, Alta) led the way with 14 points.  Hanson thought he was one of the better individual players in the contest.  Whyte wound up with 23 points to be the T-Birds top gunner.  “ He played a solid game.” said Hansen. “Josh is getting more and more experience. He’s doing some really good things.”

“We were in a position where we were down 8-0 early on and our guys put their head down”, said TRU coach Thom Gillespie.  “We looked at our schedule and our record and it’s going to be pretty tough to make the playoffs.  We need to build for the future and that’s why we rested some of our veterans in the second half.”  Gillespie elected to play first year’s Charles Barton (Vernon, BC), Hudson Naylor (Kamloops, BC), Liam Wear (Vernon, BC) along with 2nd y ear Matt Pierce (Winnipeg, Man) and 3rd year Matt Perry (Smithers, BC).

Drew Bleth (4th year, guard, Ridgefield, Wash) was the top soccer with 10 points for TRU. Perry had seven.
Besides Whyte, the Thunderbirds got 14 points from 5th year post Bryson Kool (5th year, Ridge Meadows, BC) .Brent Malish (3rd year, forward, Langley, BC) had 13 points and 11 rebounds—10 of them on defense for UBC.

The Thunderbirds remain atop of the Pacific Division with the win. Ironically, they don’t have a player in the top five in scoring.
“This is the deepest team I have ever coached,” Hanson assessed .  “Different games and different guys stepping up. We’ve had some injuries which limited some guys time. But I think its fun to play. If  you are able to use more guys there is more pressure in practice on who is going to play, who is going to get more minutes.  We have some guys coming off the bench getting more minutes than the starters. Having it is an awesome thing.  Certainly, some players would be in the top ten in stats if they got 35 or 40 minutes like they would have at other schools.  It’s a team game and I love to have that team atmosphere. It’s better for team cohesion.”

The T-Birds and WolfPack play again Sunday (Jan 4th), 3 pm at the Tournament Capital Center.