SASKATOON – The UBC Thunderbirds and host-University of Saskatchewan Huskies opened the 19th annual Ron & Jane Graham Men's Basketball Shootout with wins Thursday night at the PAC.
The T-Birds defeated the Western Mustangs 89-85 in Game 1, while the Huskies defeated the Mount Royal Cougars 85-77 in Game 2. Both the T-Birds and Huskies staved off fourth quarter comeback bids by their opponents.
Five T-Birds scored double-digits in the game including Taylor Browne with 15 points, Jauquin Benett-Boire at 13, Phil Jalalpoor and Conor Morgan each with 12 and Grant Shepard added 10. Jalalpoor and Morgan each finished with six rebounds. Omar Shiddo led the Mustangs in the game with 21 points, Eriq Jenkins added another 13. Marko Kovac and Alex Coote each finished with four rebounds.
Lawrence Moore led the Huskies in the win scoring a game-high 37 points. Alex Unruh added another 20 for Saskatchewan, while Emmanuel Akintunde and Sebastien Turcotte each netted 11. Turcotte led the Huskies on the board with eight rebounds. John Hegwood led the Cougars in the loss scoring 18 points, while Josh Ross scored 17 and Glen Yang another 16. Ross led the Cougars on the boards with nine rebounds.
On Day 2, the Mustangs will play the Cougars at 5 p.m., and the Huskies will meet UBC at 7 p.m.