A terrible start and a faulty finish doomed the UNBC Timberwolves to their sixth-straight loss Saturday night at the Charles Jago Northern Sport Centre.
But for awhile there, it looked like the T-wolves had what it would take to trap the Mount Royal Cougars of Calgary.
Unfortunately for the T-wolves, they had no answer for fourth-year forward Josh Ross, who scored nine points in the fourth quarter to send UNBC to a 72-69 U Sports Canada West conference men’s basketball loss.
Having dropped their previous five games, including a 78-64 loss to the Cougars Friday, the UNBC men have had a hard time finding the net with regularity and that problem crept up again in the first quarter Saturday when they got outscored 22-9.
But somebody flipped the switch in the second quarter. UNBC's Rhys Elliott racked up six points in four minutes, then hit back-to-back threes to tie the game 26-26, drawing a thunderous roar from the 900 or so spectators in the gym. Vaggelis Loukas ended the half with a baseline jumper which gave the T-wolves a 33-30 lead to take into the locker room.
“We made shots which helped us get back into the game and we broke out of that funk in the second quarter after a real slow start and it was anyone’s game with five or six minutes left there,” said T-wolves head coach Todd Jordan.
“They made a little adjustment defensively and went to a zone in the last couple minutes and we got out of rhythm and that was the difference in the game.”
UNBC increased the gap to 61-55 in the third quarter but couldn’t maintain it in the final 10 minutes. Unable to contain Ross, the T-wolves missed nine of their shots and were outscored 17-8. Ross had nine points down the stretch and finished with a game-high 26. He was also a monster on the boards with 15 rebounds, hauling in 11 loose balls on the defensive side.
“It was a gutty win for us – we got off to a good start and UNBC did a great job of getting themselves back into the game and that whole second half was a war,” said Cougars head coach Marc Dobell. “We did a great job in the fourth quarter shutting them down with our zone and that was the difference. They shot the ball better tonight (than in Friday’s game) and that gave us some problems.”
Ryan Cunningham put up 14 points for the Cougars and his six-foot-eight teammate Brett Layton came to life in the second half to collect 13 in the game.
Elliott fought off a flu bug and hit for 22 points to lead UNBC, while Marcus MacKay collected 11 points.
Down to the final nine seconds and trailing by one, Elliott had a chance to reverse UNBC’s fortunes with a possible buzzer-beater from the top of the key, but Cougars’ guard Derek Wolf got a hand on the ball to force the turnover and Elliott had no choice but to take his fifth foul of the game. Wolf made both shots from the free throw line but the T-wolves still had a chance for the tie. With Elliott forced to take a seat on the bench, they got the ball to MacKay and his three attempt bounced harmlessly off the rim to end the game.
“Our intensity was way better, (but) we got into a bit of foul trouble which kept our bigs on the bench and therefore we got out-rebounded and that kind of hurt us in the long run,” said Elliott.
“Just the fact that we’re undersized means some of our guards have to guard up a position and a guy like Ross, who’s six-four, plays like he’s six-seven. He’s a big strong guy and he’s going to get good looks at the rim.”
The two wins in Prince George moved the Cougars (7-5) into seventh place. UNBC (4-10) dropped to 14th place in the 17-team league. The T-wolves have just six games left to try to lock up a top-12 finish needed to qualify for the playoffs.
“Our backs are against the rope but for us that means the pressure’s off, so we’re just going to come out, play freely, and hopefully we can start playing some great team ball and finally the shots will start dropping and we can pull out some wins that are unexpected,” Elliott said.
The T-wolves have a bye this weekend and will have to wait until Jan. 27 to get back to business when they travel to Winnipeg to play the Manitoba Bisons in the first of a two-game set.
