Don’t turn your back on the Wolfpack; TRU sinks claws into UNBC

Sometimes the harder you try, the worse it gets.

The UNBC Timberwolves men’s basketball team found out the hard way on Friday night falling 77-60 at the hands of the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack at the Northern Sports Centre.

A 25-16 run by TRU in the fourth quarter proved to be the dagger for the T-Wolves who were once again without star power-forward Evgeny Baukin due to injury.

UNBC went 9-for-26 from beyond the arch while the Wolfpack went 9-for-18.

Jayden Stephens and Caden Scott each had a team high of 15 points for TRU. Stephens went 6-for-14 on field goals, while Scott converted five times on seven attempts.

Chris Ainsely hooped 18 points in defeat for the Timberwolves, who dropped to 2-17 on the season while the Wolfpack improved to 11-8.

UNBC committed 17 turnovers while TRU coughed it up 11 times.

In women’s action, it was a scrappy fight to the end; however, it wasn’t quite enough for the Timberwolves dropping a 53-44 decision to the Wolfpack earlier in the day.

Sydney Vollrath had 14 points in the victory for Thompson Rivers (7-12).

First-year Australian import Sydney Merrigan was a monster on the glass for the black and orange gobbling up 20 rebounds to go with 11 points.

Second-year Kamloops native Morgan Eichenberger chipped in with a 10-point performance in 14 minutes of action.

Despite the limited minutes on Friday, Eichenberger is making a name for herself in the Canada West Conference. She sits third in field-goal percentage (48.3), total rebounds (173) and rebounds per-game averaging just over nine contests.

Hazel Phillips was the top scorer for UNBC with 15 points.

TRU won the game despite going 21-for-70 on field goals while the Timberwolves went 13-for-55.

The Wolfpack won the battle in the paint outscoring the T-Wolves 26-10 in the trenches.

Both UNBC basketball teams play their last game of the season tonight (Saturday) at 5pm (women) and 7pm (men) from the Northern Sports Centre.