|
Monday, December 1, 2008
|
|
|
|
Temp:
|
1°C
|
|
Feels like:
|
-3°C
|
|
Humidity:
|
60%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
T-wolves one step ahead of WolfPack |
|
|
Written by JASON PETERS
Citizen staff
|
|
Friday, 03 October 2008 |
Inderbir Gill of the UNBC Northern Timberwolves, right, gets fouled by Jeff Friesen of Thompson Rivers University in Friday’s college basketball exhibition game at the Northern Sport Centre. (Citizen photo by David Mah)
Related Items
NORTHERN SPORT CENTRETHOMPSON RIVERS UNIVERSITY WOLFPACK
The UNBC Northern Timberwolves men's basketball team showed tremendous potential in beating the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack 77-64 Friday night at the Northern Sport Centre. The exhibition-game victory had to be considered a surprise. The T-wolves, after all, compete in the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association while the WolfPack - a Canadian Interuniversity Sport team - are higher up on the basketball food chain.
So how did the T-wolves do it? Well, there were several factors involved. They had no trouble working the ball inside the paint on offence, they used quick perimeter passing to create good outside looks at the basket and they played a high-pressure defence that led to 11 steals. The T-wolves blocked shots and took charge. And, in the end, they walked off the court with the win.
“It was our home and we came out strong,” said UNBC forward Jesse Smith, who finished with 12 points, three rebounds and three assists. “Sure, they're CIS... but we didn't even think about that. We wanted to win in our home. We played hard, played our game and came out on top.”
The T-wolves did indeed come out strong. They built a 15-3 advantage before the WolfPack shook off their bus legs and started to inch back into the contest. UNBC was still ahead at the first-quarter break, 25-14. In the second quarter, TRU outscored the T-wolves 19-14 but trailed 39-33 at halftime.
UNBC spread the scoring around in the opening half. Point guard Inderbir Gill led the way with nine points and Smith hit for seven. Forward Dennis Stark and shooting guard Sean Corcoran contributed five each for the Timberwolves in the half. Forward Jeff Friesen was the big gun in the WolfPack offence. The six-foot-seven product of Duncan drained 11 points. Guard Liam Wear connected for seven.
In the second half, UNBC didn't permit a WolfPack comeback. The Timberwolves continued the workmanlike effort of the first half and took away any possible suspense of a close finish. Gill - a guy UNBC fans will learn to love this season - ended with 19 points. He was particularly effective driving through the key and along the baseline. Another guy who had an impressive night for the home team was Henri Londole. The six-foot-six, 240-pound forward from Hamilton came off the bench to score 10 points in 17:05 of court time. Using his size and strength, he also ripped down seven rebounds.
“The coach (Mike Raimbault) makes us work harder and harder,” Londole said. “Coming off the bench hurts me a little. I'm trying to be a starter. That's why I'm going to keep on working hard.”
For both teams, the game was the first real test of the school year. Understandably, TRU coach Thom Gillespie - who considers his program to be in a rebuilding stage - wants to fix a few things.
“We've got some young guys that made some errors, and UNBC capitalized and got some nice run-outs and some good transition off of our turnovers,” Gillespie said. “We have to be more physical on the boards and we have to work on our offensive execution. That's obviously not going to be at its best in the first contest of the season.”
Friesen finished with a team-high 19 points for the WolfPack.
The T-wolves and WolfPack will do it all over again tonight at the Sport Centre. The opening tip-off is scheduled for 7:30.
 |
|
Last Updated ( Friday, 03 October 2008 )
|
|
|
Who's Online
We have 234 guests and 16 members online
|
|
|
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed
