The UNBC Timberwolves are heading into their regular season break on a high note! Saturday night at Brownridge Court, Todd Jordan's club (1-7) earned an 83-72 victory over the visiting UBC Okanagan Heat (3-5). Justin Sunga was a force for the TWolves offensively with 25 points, while Evgeny Baukin (24) and Chris Ainsley (17) also finished in double digits. Will Keyes grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds – six of which were on the offensive glass. For UBCO, the duo of Jalen Shirley (23) and Jeffrey Tezo (15) did a bulk of the heavy lifting offensively.

The UBCO Heat jumped out to a slim 19-16 lead after one.  The tandem of Jeffrey Tezo (5) and Lamine Conde (5) combined for 10 points for the visitors while Jas Dhudwal grabbed a team-leading three boards in the opening 10 minutes.  For UNBC it was last night's offensive hero, Evgeny Baukin doing the heavy lifting early, supplying seven points on three-of-seven shooting. Justin Sunga added five points off a field goal and three successful free-throws. Will Keyes bagged a team-best four boards.

The TWolves outscored UBCO by a slim 24-22 margin in the second quarter on the strength of a 10-point quarter from second-year Chris Ainsley. Ainsley connected on a pair of threes, and shot four-for-six, helping UNBC bridge a gap that at one point was 33-26. Ainsley led all UNBC scorers at half with 12 while Danilo Gonzalez was rock solid on the glass, pulling down all six of his first-half boards in the second quarter.

 At the other end, Jalen Shirley produced eight points for the Heat, and was five-for-11 through the opening 20 minutes. With 11 seconds left in the quarter, Sunga connected on a layup to tie the game at 40-40, but a single free-throw from Shirley with under a second left on the clock helped UBCO to a 41-40 lead at halftime.

Todd Jordan's club came out fast, motivated and efficient in the third quarter as they would eventually outscore the Heat 25-15. UNBC began the third quarter on an 18-7 run – nine of which came from Baukin. Baukin was especially sharp from the charity stripe as he buried five free-throws while adding two field goals. Isaiah Bias chimed in with five points while Sunga had four. On the glass, it was Keyes who led the way for UNBC with four, and had a game-high nine through 30 minutes.

Late in the quarter, Leon Schenker hit a pair of threes for UBCO which helped get them back within single digits, but with 10 minutes left UNBC held a 65-56 advantage.
Ainsley and Shirley swapped threes in the early moments of the fourth as UNBC led 68-59. The threes kept coming for UNBC as Sunga would pop for his second trey of the night, pushing UNBC's lead to 12. Sunga finished with seven points in the quarter en route to his game-leading 25 point effort.

With time ticking away in the fourth, UBCO was unable to chip away at their deficit. In the early moments of the quarter, they got as close as six, but the UNBC defense and timely shooting did their part, and when the final buzzer echoed through the noisy Brownridge Court, the UNBC Timberwolves were able to celebrate an 83-72 victory.

With 25 points, three assists, three rebounds and five free-throws, Justin Sunga captured Mr. Mike's Player of the Game honours Saturday for the TWolves who return to regular season action on January 10^th against UFV. But before that, they'll host the Unversity of Calgary Dinos for a pair of exhibition games at Brownridge Court starting Friday next weekend at 6:00 pm.