Sunday night at Brownridge Court at UNBC, the UNBC Timberwolves Men dropped a nail-biting 88-85 overtime decision to the visiting TRU WolfPack. Five different WolfPack players reached double-digits in offense with Asher Mayan leading the way with 17. For UNBC, Evgeny Baukin led all scorers with 22 points while Chris Ainsley set a new career-high in points with 17. 15 of those 17 points came from five successful threes for the second-year forward from Vancouver. Josh Gillespie led the TWolves with 11 rebounds while Darni Farinloye had nine for TRU.

At the end of the first quarter, TRU held a slim 15-14 lead over UNBC. UNBC began the game on a 4-2 run thanks to makes from Chris Ainsley and Josh Gillespie. Six of the next 10 points for UNBC came from Baukin who connected on a trio of layups. TRU's first quarter attack featured a three from Asher Mayan, two layups from Cyrus Harrison and a pair of baskets from Erin Chamble.

Trailing 25-16 at the halfway point of the quarter, the TWolves started to chip away, and ended the second on a 15-8 run. The positive momentum for UNBC was bookended by a pair of Chris Ainsley threes. Ainsley's first came with 4:09 left, and helped push UNBC within five (26-21). His second one beat the buzzer to end the second, and helped UNBC move to within two at 33-31.

The first-half leader for TRU was Bachurin who had eight points on three-of-seven shooting. Asher Mayan led all players with six rebounds. At half for UNBC it was Baukin who led the way with 11 points, while Ainsley added eight on three-of-four. Ainsley also shared the team rebounding lead with Josh Gillespie (4) at half.

Early in the third, Justin Sunga helped UNBC move back ahead with an early three, and Josh Gillespie then stoked the crowd with a breakaway dunk, giving UNBC a 36-33 advantage. The two teams then continued to trade baskets and leads. Mayan hit from deep to put TRU ahead 52-50, then Baukin answered right back with a deep elbow two of his own, tying the score. Isaiah Bias then momentarily gave UNBC the lead with an 'And 1' layup, but Erin Chamble made a layup in the dying seconds of the quarter, staking TRU to a 56-55 lead.

Early layups from Mayan and Chamble helped push TRU ahead 63-57 in the fourth, but Ainsley's fourth triple of the day and a layup from Sunga moved UNBC back within one. Stinson quieted the crowd with a triple for TRU, pushing the lead back to two possessions.

Once again though – Ainsley. His fifth three of the night moved UNBC within one. But the WolfPack defense came up big, and then the Pack started hitting some deep shots of their own. Threes from Bachurin and Simon Crossfield pushed TRU's advantage to seven (74-67).

With 2:18 left, Todd Jordan's squad needed a spark. A single free-throw from Sunga, and a put-back layup from Baukin got UNBC back within four. Baukin hit another laup and Isaiah Bias then hit two free-throws, tying the score at 74 with a minute remaining.

The score remained tied with 17 seconds left, and TRU ball. But a steal from Sunga set up a buzzer-beating chance for UNBC that came up empty. That meant overtime at Brownridge Court.
 
Sunga and Dami Farinloye swapped early buckets on the opening possessions of overtime, and then Baukin hit a layup to push UNBC ahead by two. A three from Bachurin restored a one-point TRU. A single free-throw from Chamble moved TRU's lead to 80-78. The TWolves answered with a smooth finish from Baukin in close off a Gillespie feed.

Back came the 'Pack with a layup from Mayan, but UNBC answered with a pair of successful free-throws from Baukin (82-82). Gillespie then forced a steal on the next possession giving UNBC the ball with under a minute to go, but they couldn't score.

On the next TRU possession Fairinloye connected on a layup. (84-82 TRU). UNBC came up empty on their next try as Gillespie missed his attempt from deep, giving TRU possession again with 14.2 seconds left. Evan Smith hit both free-throws after he was fouled, making it a four-point lead (86-82) for the visitors.

Ainsley's layup attempt came up empty which resulted in a foul, and two successful free-throws from Stinson.

Sunga hit a buzzer-beating three from way deep, but it wasn't enough as TRU held on for the 88-85 win.

TRU improved their mark to 1-1 while the TWolves will now look to snag their first win of the season on Friday night when they battle Victoria on the road.