After finishing the UBC Invitational tournament with two wins and a loss, UBC men’s basketball dropped 92-89 to the Seattle Mountaineers.
Kevin Hanson, Thunderbirds head coach, believed that UBC overall lacked momentum throughout the game.
“I felt disappointed with our effort to start with. I didn’t think we came out like we needed to do ... We need to get a little more excited about playing basketball,” said Hanson.
Despite the loss, the T-Birds did witness an impressive performance by second-year Conor Morgan. In the first half, Morgan was the main driving force for UBC having scored 18 points to nearly match the 22 points of the remaining Thunderbirds combined. Morgan would eventually finish the game with 28 points.
“He’s going to be a big part of our team … I thought he had a real good one tonight,” said Hanson.
Despite Morgan’s scoring ability, Hanson believed that the T-Birds had relied too much on Morgan and that he did not see a good enough performance from other dominant scorers.
“We relied a lot on Conor today. Some of our regular three-point shooters couldn't put in,” said Hanson.
By the end of the first half, UBC trailed 47-40 to Seattle. In the third quarter, the T-Birds did witness some improvement as they were able to outscore the Mountaineers by two points. Still, this was not enough to compensate for UBC’s earlier deficit. The score at the end of the third was 67-72 in favour of the Mountaineers.
UBC showed their strongest momentum near the end of the fourth quarter. After having trailed throughout the game, the Thunderbirds were able to even the score at 89-89 with only 10 seconds remaining on the clock. However, UBC’s opportunity to take the lead and win quickly vanished as a result of foul trouble.
Fouling was a major problem for the T-Birds throughout the game. Several T-Birds, including Morgan, had as many as four or five fouls. Hanson said that the T-Birds fouls gave too many opportunities to a team that has a strong ability to score free throws.
“We weren’t very disciplined on the defence … We put them on the free-throw line way too many times,” said Hanson.
Fouling was not the only issue that contributed to the T-Birds’ loss. Hanson said that Seattle’s strong defense also had an affect on UBC’s ability to score.
The Thunderbirds will play their next preseason game against the SFU Clan this upcoming Tuesday at home.
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