After seven losses to open the season, the UNBC Timberwolves head into the Christmas break knowing what life is like on the winning side of the ledger.
And how sweet it is.
They finally got what they were after Saturday night in front of noisy crowd of about 500 at Brownridge Court – an 83-72 victory over the UBC-Okanagan Heat.
Unlike their previous history this year against U SPORTS Canada West opponents when they were in striking range a couple times but fell apart in the third quarter, the TWolves came back from the intermission with the same determination that led their bronze-medal playoff finish last season. They put together one of their best 10-minute stretches yet, outscoring the Heat 18-7 to give themselves a 10-point lead.
Evgeny Baukin took that mission to heart and used his chiseled six-foot-eight frame to cause grief for the Heat, drawing three fouls. Baukin went 5-for-6 from the foul line and also sunk a pair of field goals on his way to a 24-point game.
“It feels great to finally get the win,” said Baukin.
“In the third quarter we’ve let it slip away multiple times and today we took care of the little things and we got it done. The girls won and the crowd was already hyped up and it felt great, we could not lose tonight. We had to at least have one win to get that feeling, for some of the rookies that was their first win a UNBC jersey.”
Baukin, 20, a former high school star at Duchess Park, has moved into the top-five in Canada West, averaging 19.1 points in his third season.
In the fourth quarter, Justin Sunga and Chris Ainsley continued to feed horizontal bullets into Baukin’s hands that he converted into points and Will Keyes utilized his six-foot-11 height to snag a season-high 11 rebounds.
Jalen Shirley brought the Heat to within six with a long-range three early in the quarter but Ainsley answered with a trey of his own and a layup in rapid succession and the TWolves kept up the pressure on defence, forcing UBC-O to miss their shots and the win was finally in the bag for UNBC.
“Obviously the start of the season has been a bit rough but we’ve been praying on this win, we’ve working for this win and we finally got it out so it’s good for us heading into the break,” said Sunga, who finished with 25 points.
With fourth-year forward Josh Gillespie sitting out for his fourth game with an ankle injury, Danilo Gonzalez got some additional playing time and made his presence felt with seven rebounds.
“We’ve been playing a lot of young guys so it’s been a bit of a struggle to start the year and it was a good response by the guys, I thought they played the most composed they’ve been all season,” said TWolves head coach Todd Jordan.
Gillespie’s injury left the TWolves with only two players – Baukin and Sunga – with two or more years of Canada West experience as starters.
“Those guys have to carry us right now and they did that this weekend,” said Jordan. “They’ve got more weight on their shoulders than they did in previous years and that’s part of what happens as you move on in your careers and they played well (Saturday).”
The UNBC women swept the Heat in their two-game series, but it came down to the last shot to decide it on Saturday.
Viktoriia Filatova, the T-wolves' 18-year-old import forward from Moscow, Russia, converted an inbound play for the winning bucket in the dying seconds. Her shimmy-shake reverse dribble got her free of Heat defender Temi Aina long enough to sink the layup in off the backboard for a 68-66 lead with 14 seconds left.
“Coach (Sergey Shchepotkin) told me I have to get it and I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got this,’ and also the crowd really helped,” said Filatova. “I didn’t think about anything, I just knew I needed to score, so I did it.”
Lily Pink had a chance to tie it with seven seconds left after she was fouled by Filatova, but made just one of her free throws. Pink tried in vain for a game-winning trey with Sveta Boykova in her face just as the buzzer sounded and UNBC had its 68-67 win.
At one point, early in the second quarter, the T-wolves trailed 23-8 and they were still down by 12 when the fourth quarter began. Boykova saved her best for last, hitting on a jump shot followed by three straight layups for eight of her game-high 20 points. She also had 13 rebounds and seven assists.
“We just started to play really good defence and got some steals and didn’t let them score,” said Filatova, who collected 18 points to boost her season average to 15.8 per game, seventh in Canada West.
Halle Tiessen, Brynn Dergousoff, Adaiah Tupas-Singh and Amrit Manak also hit key shots to bring to level the score.
“The first game of the year we lost to this team by (20) points and they came up and we knew we had to dig deep, especially after we struggled in Regina TWolves assistant coach Dave Fuller.
“The girls chipped away, we didn’t get down. One of the things we’re focusing on this year is really about resilience and I think the girls showed it. Everybody contributed, nobody got hot, which just kept chipping away. It was all hard work.”
The fans at the Northern Sport Centre also did their part.
“The crowd was a huge factor, just to feel the energy of the people who have been coming out cheering us, it’s got to be good for five points,” said Fuller.
Their weekend wins moved the UNBC women within reach of a playoff spot. They’re now tied with UBC-O, each with 3-5 records, with 12 games left.
Both UNBC teams resume their Canada West schedule Jan. 10 against Fraser Valley.
In the meantime, the men will host the Calgary Dinos in a two-game exhibition this weekend at the Northern Sport Centre with games Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m.
