Box Score

The University of Regina's men's basketball team made first-year head coach Steve Burrows' debut a memorable one as the Cougars opened the Canada West schedule with a 78-72 win over the No. 8-ranked UBC Thunderbirds on Friday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

The Cougars led by 19 at one point in the third quarter, but UBC went on a 16-2 run that spanned much of the third quarter and the first bit of the fourth to get back into the game. But the Cougars traded baskets with UBC down the stretch and though the Thunderbirds brought the deficit down to five points on a pair of occasions late, the U of R held off the visitors to claim the win.

"It wasn't the prettiest of wins, but I thought we had control of this game from the tip-off and I was happy for them to be able to finish this one off," Burrows said. "These guys have worked incredibly hard since the start of September and it's great for them to be rewarded with a win to start off the season."

Brendan Hebert was 5-for-11 from three-point range and led all players with 23 points while tying Darius Mole for the game high with seven assists as the Cougars move to 1-0 on the season.

UBC (0-1) dressed only eight players in the loss and the Thunderbirds were led by Tommy Nixon's 21 points, nine of which came from the free throw line.

A 13-1 run by the Cougars in the first quarter gave them a lead that they would never relinquish. They led 22-13 after the first quarter, but seven straight points by UBC capped by an Andrew McGuinness jumper brought the Thunderbirds to within a bucket midway through the second. In what would become a theme for the night, though, the Cougars had a response to UBC's rally and got the lead back up to seven at the break.

The Cougars came out strong in the third quarter, opening the half on a 17-5 run that gave them the aforementioned 19-point advantage.

Besides the strong play from Hebert and Mole, the Cougars also had an 11-point, seven-rebound performance from Will Tallman and 14 points off the bench by rookie Brandon Tull. Also breaking into double figures was Jeremy Zver, who was 4-for-5 from the field and had 10 points.

McGuinness ended up with 15 points for UBC, while Jordan Jensen-Whyte scored 12. Harpreet Randhawa scored seven points and led all players with 11 rebounds, five of which came on the offensive glass.

Both teams are back in action on Saturday night. UBC will travel to Brandon, while the Cougars will host No. 5-ranked Victoria (7:00 start).