There were times in Saturday's UNBC men's alumni game it seemed Joel Rybachuk had eyes in the back of his head.
His vision was firmly focused on Charles Barton, the target of several of Rybachuk's no-look passes on the basketball court at the Northern Sport Centre. Together, they were a dymamite duo for the UNBC Northern Timberwolves in a 106-57 defeat of the T-wolves alumni team.
Their offensive chemistry dates back to their high school days in Vernon, where Barton, a point guard, and Rybachuk, a small forward, were teammates for five years at Clarence Fulton. Barton played the past two seasons at Thompson Rivers University while Rybachuk in in his fourth season at UNBC.
Reunited on a UNBC team expected to take a run at the PACWEST title, they offered an enthusastic crowd of about 300 a glimpse of even better things to come once the season begins.
"We played together in high school and just happened to get that chemistry together and it's the same thing here, everybody on the team has the same chemistry and we gel well together, said Barton, who picked up 12 points Saturday.
"It will be tough to win (the national championship] but I think the team here is the team to do it."
The game marked the return of UNBC guard Jose Araujo and post Kevan Madsen, back after a year's absence. They picked up where they left in March 2010 at the national championship in Calgary, where they helped the T-wolves net their first CCAA title.
The six-foot-10 Madsen was an all-star in the national tournament in his rookie season but had to leave the team to focus on academics. His return to the UNBC roster, and the addition of Gabe Aubertin, gives the T-wolves a pair of lanky rebounding threats. Madsen sunk a game-high 21 points, while Araujo chipped in with 14. Mike Davis led the alumni offence with 16.
"Kevan came back physically stronger and that's good for us," said Araujo. "He's bringing more physical play to the court with an outside shooting touch and he's got experience."
The varsity T-wolves are a much different team without three-time All-Canadian guard Inderbir Gill, but recruited well in the off-season and Araujo is predicting the biggest rewards will come in the playoffs.
"Everyone is going to be missing Inderbir and he was a big piece but we have guys here who are going to come in and help out and I'm feeling good about this year," said Araujo. "I got the feeling right away as soon as I met the guys that as long as we continue to work hard and keep building our chemistry, the sky's the limit."
The alumni squad led for about 30 seconds after Robert Rodriguez opened the scoring.
"We wanted to call the game right then and there," laughed Alumni forward Zane Robison.
The alumni had eight players in uniform and the odds were seriously stacked playing a team of 14 younger athletes who have been training hard every day for the past three weeks.
With the varsity team leading 18-5 late in the first quarter, alumni guard Aidan Kelly turned to the crowd and quipped: "That's five more points than I thought we'd get in the first quarter."
The UNBC men will scrimmage against TRU Friday night in Williams Lake.
