The Thunderbirds layed down the hammer on the winless MacEwan University Griffins over the weekend, walking away with an 84–67 win on Friday and a 96–63 performance on Saturday in Edmonton.
Coming into Friday’s matchup, Brian Wallack was fifth in the conference in both points and rebounds per game, and he kicked off Friday’s action with a posterizing dunk in the opening seconds.
Defensive efficiency was a clear focus for the ‘Birds to start the game as they were able to limit the Griffins to just six points in the opening five minutes. The team also got a hot offensive start from Wallack and Adam Olsen, who was nearly perfect in the opening frame, shooting five of six, with three three-pointers.
The ‘Birds grabbed a firm lead early, going up 30–13 after the first. However, the following quarter saw a rebuttal from the Griffins: Rookie guard Joel Seke cashed in an impressive 16 points in the second quarter alone. Though his team made up some ground, the Griffins still trailed 47–40 at the half.
Coming out of the break, the Griffins' pressure continued. In the final minute of the third, they made it just a two-possession game, 59–55. However, that’s as close as they would get as the ‘Birds continued to find and knock down open shots, finishing with a sound 84–67 win.
Wallack was the leading scorer for the T-Birds with 24 points while also walking away with 10 rebounds. Olsen was next on the list, finishing with 17 points and was one rebound shy of a double-double.
For Saturday’s matchup, the Thunderbirds picked up where they left off, hitting shots efficiently alongside tight defence. Micah Jessie began the scoring for both sides with a wide open three off a James Woods assist in the opening seconds.
The Griffins kept it close for the first five minutes, but the remainder saw dominance from the 'Birds. They had another high scoring first quarter, hitting 44 per cent of their three-pointers, ending the quarter up 33–15.
Early in the second, Fareed Shittu slammed it down off a feed from Olsen, extending their lead and giving the ‘Birds momentum to maintain that stranglehold on the Griffins, going into halftime up by 17.
In the final twenty minutes of action, the 'Birds kept their foot on the offence pedal. The third quarter ended with Jessie going the length of the floor and hitting a smooth step back three over two defenders to beat the buzzer.
The ‘Birds kept expanding on the lead, reaching a gap of over thirty shortly after a three from Olsen kicked off the fourth. They maintained this pressure until the final whistle and walked away with their largest win differential of the regular season, 96–63.
Olsen took up the scoring reins this time with another 17 point performance with 3 of 6 shooting from deep. Shittu was also impactful as he established a presence on both sides of the floor with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
This wraps up Thunderbird basketball until the new year, when they are hosts to Trinity Western University for another two-game series on January 5 and January 6.