With a career best of 28 points in Saturday’s Canada West quarterfinal against the University of Winnipeg Wesmen, Fareed Shittu led the UBC men’s basketball team to a nail biting 74–72 win.
The sixth-seed Wesmen faced the third-seeded Thunderbirds after defeating the University of Regina Cougars the night before, but there didn’t seem to be any fatigue from the Mantitobans. They played a quick game and capitalized on UBC’s early miscommunications, getting on the board first.
Adam Olsen got the ‘Birds on the board right after and kept pace with the Wesmen. Although there was some back-and-forth, UBC’s Nikola Guzina and Brendan Sullivan started some momentum, after a steal and layup combo. Shittu earned the next seven points, but the Wesmen took the lead, 20–19, after their own run and ended the quarter 27–24.
The T-Birds continued to fumble the ball in the second quarter, and while Winnipeg never took advantage of it, it showed some slips in their defence. Offensively, Shittu added another eight consecutive points to their lead and started the team's momentum. With two minutes left, Sullivan passed to Shittu for a slam dunk, much to the delight of the crowd. At half, UBC led 46–39.
Fouls plagued both teams, with 23 of 37 total occurring in the first half and most for UBC. While not all of the calls seemed correct, the Wesmen still capitalized with a 69 per cent free throw rate compared to UBC’s 61.5.
In the second half, the Thunderbirds continued tight defence, boxing out and often forcing shot clock errors. Each team had long periods of possession, but scoring was much slower compared to the earlier 20 minutes. The Wesmen bounced back offensively, but never got ahead of the ‘Birds.
UBC started the fourth quarter up by seven points, but the Wesmen continued their attack. With a fast break layup from Shawn Maranan, they were within one point of the lead, 68–67.
“I thought we maintained our composure really well,” said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson. “The whole game plan was just to be tough, both mentally and physically and I think we actually executed very well down the stretch.”
With two minutes to go, the score was tight and tensions were high in the gym. Winnipeg had come close to the lead again, but a highlight-reel block by Sullivan kept the score at 74–70. They snuck one through the paint, but with one minute left, Winnipeg stepped out of bounds with the ball and forced a turnover. The Thunderbirds managed to hold onto their slim lead until the buzzer rang and the home crowd erupted.
“I think it was a really good team win,” said Hanson.
Next, UBC will play the second-seeded University of Manitoba Bisons in Winnipeg on Saturday, March 1.
“There's no easy games through the rest of the season,” said Hanson. “We're going to be hungry this weekend to go in there and try to play our best.”
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