A slow second half was the difference on Friday night as the University of Regina's men's basketball team was defeated by a 78-57 margin by UBC in a Canada West game in Vancouver.
 
Alex Igual sparked the Cougars early as they scored the first seven points of the contest, but UBC reeled off a 16-0 run and led by six after the first quarter. The Thunderbirds took a seven-point lead into halftime, but opened the second half on an 8-0 run to build up a double-digit lead that they held on to for the remainder of the game.
 
UBC moves to 10-3 on the year as the Thunderbirds remain a half game back of Calgary for first place in the Pioneer Division, while the Cougars fall to 7-4 with the loss and are now tied for third in the division with Lethbridge.
 
Three UBC players hit double figures in scoring, led by 22 points by Conor Morgan. Jordan Jensen-Whyte added 18 points, while Patrick Simon scored 17. Morgan also added a game-high 10 rebounds for the lone double-double of the contest.
 
Igual finished with a team-leading 13 points for the Cougars and tied Jonathan Tull for the team high with six rebounds. Brian Ofori came off the bench to score 12.
 
The two teams will play again on Saturday night (7:00).