Down twelve points at halftime to a conference rival, the UNBC Timberwolves men’s basketball team had two choices.
Fold the tent and play another day or fight back – thankfully the T-Wolves chose the ladder on Friday during a 77-69 come from behind win over the Fraser Valley Cascades at the Northern Sports Centre.
Second-year tower of power Evgeny Baukin led the second-half charge hooping a team-high 18 points and seven rebounds to go along with five steals, three assists, and two blocks.
Baukin also went 6-for-15 on field goals.
Geno talks @UNBCMBB‘s comeback win over the @UFVCascades on @CanadaWest opening night! pic.twitter.com/YB2Tcg2pEB
— UNBC Timberwolves (@UNBCATHLETICS) November 4, 2023
UNBC outscored the Cascades 43-23 in the second half including a 20-8 margin at the conclusion of the third quarter.
UFV started the game on a 16-7 run in the first quarter and stretched their lead to 15 at one point in the second due to some timely shooting from Dario Lopez, who had a game-high 23 in defeat followed by a 12-point effort off the bench by Matthias Klim.
Hear from @UFVCascades forward Dario Lopez after his 23 point performance in UFV’s loss to UNBC pic.twitter.com/lnbOJjzmJj
— UNBC Timberwolves (@UNBCATHLETICS) November 4, 2023
The X-factor in the game was three-point shooting – UNBC went 9 for 24 (37.5%) while UFV was a chilly 3-for-16 from beyond the arch (18.8%).
The UNBC victory also marked the Canada West debut of Josh Gillespie, Patrick Freeman and Will Keyes.
Gillespie, an American transfer, had 7 points in 27 minutes of action while Freeman, a product of Wellington, New Zealand also tallied 7 points, two of those were clutch baskets in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.
Keyes, a native of West Kelowna was more of a defensive presence recording one defensive rebound in nine minutes of action.
It was a much longer night on the court of the UNBC women’s basketball team dropping a 96-54 decision to the high-powered UFV Cascades.
Eleven out of the twelves players who saw the court for the Fraser Valley registered at least one point – only Kyla Smith failed to hit at least one shot in five minutes of action.
Hear from guard Bernie Leda after @UFVCascades topped @UNBCWomensBball on @CanadaWest opening night pic.twitter.com/sLywR72mln
— UNBC Timberwolves (@UNBCATHLETICS) November 4, 2023
The Cascades, ranked fourth in the Canada West coaches poll, saw five players reached double-digit points. This included a clinical performance from power-forward Deanna Tuchscherer who had a game-high 18 points including 7-for-11 on field goals.
Fellow veterans Maddy Gobeil and Natalie Rathler each had 14 points for the visitors while Esther Allison and Google Sidhu tallied 13 points respectively.
Fraser Valley feasted on the younger and smaller T-Wolves outscoring them 52-19 in the paint. In addition, the Cascades hooped 33 points off 32 UNBC turnovers.
Russian rookie Viktoriia Filatova had 14 points in 25 minutes of action for UNBC.
UNBC is without veteran sparkplug Sarah Kuklisin and rookie Claire Huang for the entire season due to knee injuries sustained in pre-season.
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