Heading into halftime, the UBC Thunderbirds were on cloud nine, leading by 18 against the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold. Coming into the U Sports Final 8 off a loss in the Canada West finals, the ‘Birds knew they would be fighting an uphill battle as the seventh seed. Facing off against TMU — the second seed — the stakes were high for a group that featured multiple seniors who had yet to win a national title in their careers.
Unfortunately for the ‘Birds, TMU’s Kevin Toth had other plans. Toth, a second-year guard, had not scored a point before the final frame when, seemingly out of nowhere, he scored 21 points, nearly matching his career-high of 22 in ten minutes. Similar to Klay Thompson’s iconic 37-point quarter, it was obvious that when the ball left Toth’s fingertips, he was not going to miss. His spectacular seven of eight shooting performance in the frame secured TMU’s spectacular comeback win, taking the game 97–91 after trailing by as many as 20. The ‘Birds spirit was crushed.
It was an unthinkable result, especially after how well the T-Birds had played early on. UBC’s first quarter offence was electric. Eight different members of the Thunderbirds squad scored as UBC put up an impressive 28 points, their highest-scoring quarter of the post-season. Nylan Roberts — third on the team in scoring — got on the board first with a smooth pull-up jumper.
Then, fifth-year Tobi Akinkunmi, who only scored five points total throughout the duration of the Canada West playoffs, ran a fast break to perfection and converted a tough Eurostep lay. Despite much of Akinkunmi's on-court value not being derived from his scoring — but rather his energy, grit and hustle — seeing a shot fall early was clearly impactful. Akinkunmi finished the game with a solid 10 points, and was one of five UBC players to score in double digits.
UBC’s first quarter success was largely fuelled by their defence and rebounding prowess. UBC was a top three team in both offensive and defensive rebounding in their conference this season. In the first quarter UBC hauled in 14 rebounds, only three more than TMU, but it was apparent early that UBC had more control on the glass. This was largely thanks to UBC’s size advantage, not just grabbing rebounds, but also attacking the basket with their size early on. They finished the quarter up 13 points without hitting a single three-pointer.
The T-Birds’ attack on the TMU basket did not slow down to open the second quarter. To open, Roberts fired a bullet of a pass from just inside half-court to find an open Akinkunmi under the basket, putting UBC up 30–17.
At this point, TMU was still looking to establish their offence. Outside of Aaron Rhooms, the U Sports player of the year, and third-year guard Gabriel Gutsmore, no one else on their squad had scored.
UBC’s offence continued to roll in the second quarter. Scoring 11 points in two minutes, and TMU had no answer for the Thunderbirds’ relentless attack on the cup in transition. The ‘Birds leading scorer, Nikola Guzina — a first team Canada West all-star — converted on a nice spin move in the paint, which was immediately followed by transition dunks from both Raj Dhadda and Roberts. Dhadda, who recently had the game of his career in the Canada West semifinals, was fouled driving to the basket, looking to hype up both himself and his team off the three-point play.
Having led by as much as 20, the T-Birds were up an impressive 18 points headed into halftime. While the TMU offence had finally shown signs of improvement, the Bold simply had no answer for UBC’s spread-out, attacking, offensive scheme.
The Bold were clearly focused on one thing coming out of halftime — defence. UBC didn’t score once in nearly the first three minutes of action, and when they finally did, the points came off a tough, mid-range jump shot from Holt Tomie. The Bold were intent on walling UBC off from the paint and forcing them to take perimeter shots, and their new defensive approach appeared to be working early. After scoring 28 in the paint in the first half, the ‘Birds were held to just four in the third quarter.
TMU’s reinvigorated defence held UBC to just 11 total points in the quarter on only 19 per cent field goal shooting. That wasn’t the only thing clicking for the Bold. Their offence had finally hit full stride, now finding scoring from key bench players like Maxime Louis-Jean, who had eight points in the quarter. TMU closed out the quarter scoring 26 points.
In the closing seconds, a late TMU play epitomized how much the roles had reversed. Similarly to how UBC had dominated in the first half, TMU forward Greg Dorsey found Rhooms lurking in the paint, snagging the pass over the head of UBC’s Gus Goerzen, where he easily converted on a layup. The T-Birds’ advantage down low had vanished.
UBC had one final look on a crazy, backwards alley-oop pass from Dhadda, but were unable to convert. The lead was down to three. The comeback was nearly complete. Ten minutes ago, the T-Birds were coasting to an easy win. Now, all the pressure would be on UBC through the closing quarter, as the Bold were now playing fully uninhibited.
Gutsmore tied the game immediately with a corner three, and despite the ‘Birds quickly responding with a layup from Guzina, the three was simply the beginning of the perimeter barrage that was to come from the Bold. Next trip down the floor, Toth, who had missed all his shots until then, caught the ball and let it fly from three with confidence.
Money. TMU takes the lead.
The sequence that followed was simply ridiculous. Tomie connected on his first two three-pointers of the afternoon in 45 seconds, while Rhooms, Gutsmore, and Toth responded each time with baskets of their own. The shotmaking was electric. The difficulty on these shots was high. Both benches were visibly pumped up.
With two minutes left and the game tied, Rhooms grabbed a key offensive rebound and put it back for an and-one opportunity. He calmly sank the free throw to give TMU a three-point lead. In a game where every point mattered, TMU finished the day 10 for 11 on free-throws, even though they finished their regular season as the worst free-throw shooting team in their conference, making just over 60 per cent of their attempts this season.
Things started to heat up fast. Dhadda quickly responded with a three to tie up the game once more. Then, Toth hit his fourth three of the quarter to put TMU up again. Tomie responded with another mid-range jumper with just over a minute left, bringing the ‘Birds within one.
Finally, after a UBC timeout, Toth’s crowning moment came.
With just over 40 seconds left, up by two, UBC needed a stop. Instead, coming off a screen, with ice in his veins, Toth laced his fifth three-pointer of the quarter to put the Bold up five. Dagger.
It was a tough way for UBC to miss out on a medal opportunity, but it’s hard to say the ‘Birds did too much wrong, especially in the fourth quarter. They were simply shut out by a spectacular performance in the closing minutes of an epic contest.
The Thunderbirds coming as far as they did this year, despite losing Adam Olsen, their leading scorer from a year ago, was a testament to the leadership of interim head coach Phil Jalalpoor in his first year as bench boss. While UBC is eliminated from the gold medal race, their season would not end with this loss. Instead, they’d be sorted into the consolation bracket, where the ‘Birds will face the L’Université Laval Rouge et Or next, looking to end the season on a high note.
