Physical T-Birds avenge loss to McDonald, Bobcats

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This article was published 08/01/2023 (619 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Not even Australian Rules Football could prepare the Brandon University Bobcats for the punishing game the UBC Thunderbirds brought in the paint at the Healthy Living Centre on Saturday.

Jack McDonald and the Bobcats forwards got hammered to the tune of 48 points in the paint in their 92-79 loss that dropped them to 8-4 in the Canada West men’s basketball season.

“That was probably one of the more physical ones,” McDonald said.

“We just got to be more disciplined in what we do and execute better. I wouldn’t say it throws us off but it does put a spanner in the works a little bit so if we can kind of push past that … we just gotta get in the weight room, myself included.”

The import forward grew up in Perth, Australia and his first sport was their form of football, which more resembles rugby in that they play without padding.

“It’s fun, it’s a lot more tackling, it’s more physical, in each other’s face, it’s a good game to have with your mates if you can get a good team going,” McDonald said.

He started playing basketball at age 10 and immediately loved it, though the sport wasn’t huge in Australia. By the time he hit high school, he was playing for club teams and decided to pursue North American colleges.

The six-foot-seven forward signed up for a recruiting program and landed at Barstow Community College, a junior college in California. He averaged 12 points and eight rebounds per game in the 2019-20 season, then transferred to Warner University in Florida.

In 2020-21, he posted his season high of 10 points in his debut and slid down to a 3.1 ppg average on limited minutes.

He took the 2021-22 season off before connecting with Bobcats coach Gil Cheung and joining as the team’s third import.

McDonald is averaging 7.4 points on 18.3 minutes per game and has started all 12 in the regular season.

It took a few games to adjust, he admitted.

“This is definitely a much higher level than what I’ve played but all around the experience is the best I’ve had, I’m really enjoying my time here, the guys, everything like that,” McDonald said.

“There’s more of a professional feel. Obviously juco we didn’t really have such resources but even my school in Florida, we were pretty high school. The social media presence and the whole community around Brandon’s cool.”

He’s been part of one of the best seasons in recent program history but endured a hiccup on Saturday.

Brian Wallack hammered the Bobcats inside from literally the opening tip, racking up a quick eight points to lead 11-6.

Triston Matthews added a pair of threes and the Thunderbirds’ offence was rolling. UBC shot 62.5 per cent in the quarter, and while BU was a solid 53.3, it trailed 29-20 after 10 minutes.

Brandon’s press forced a handful of turnovers in the season but couldn’t cash in on the open looks that followed.

For the rest of the half, BU hardly found an uncontested shot. That wasn’t much different from its 53-point first half a night earlier but those ultra-tough shots weren’t falling.

Essentially, UBC turned back the clock and played 1980s, we’re-bigger-than-you-and-we-know-it bully ball and outmuscled Brandon to create shots.

The physicality frustrated the Bobcats into bad decisions and an abysmal 4-for-18 from the floor.

Sultan Bhatti took his third foul with more than three minutes left in the second quarter, and Brandon trailed 46-31 at the break.

“Any team that comes out, comes to a different city and is somewhat blown out the first night, the next night they’re not going to come out soft,” said BU guard Travis Hamberger, a B.C., native who trained with a handful of Thunderbirds over the summer.

“It’s what they are. They’re ranked top 10, that’s their identity, come out strong and physical.”

The start of the third was nothing short of terrible for Brandon, an 18-0 UBC run that included a Blake Magnusson technical foul while the hosts missed six shots and turned the ball over three times.

Eli Ampofo hit a pair of threes for the Bobcats, who hardly cut into the deficit for the rest of the quarter, trailing 77-52 with 10 minutes to go.

Bhatti fouled out with a pair of soft but easy calls early in the fourth.

The Thunderbirds led 86-57 with less than seven minutes left when the Bobcats rattled off a 15-2 run in four minutes, but coach UBC Kevin Hanson called a timeout and settled his group down. The visitors shut the comeback down.

UBC improved to 5-5 and has now split each of its five regular-season weekends.

“I would love to have swing trips. from a scheduling standpoint I think it’s very difficult to play and play well against the same team back-to-back nights,” Hanson said. “The team that loses on the Friday night always has a little bit more incentive than the team that wins.

“You prepare all week for it and get a little bit complacent. The energy levels (Friday and Saturday) were two different stories.

The Bobcats played a seven-man rotation on Friday, with Tsegakele, Khari Ojeda-Harvey and Jahmaal Gardner sitting just a combined 15 minutes as they dropped 65 points.

They scored just 37 on Saturday while Ampofo posted a team-high 18.

“You have to try to win the Friday night game,” Hanson said. “You have to go at it, and we saw they used those guys 35, 33 minutes … we wanted the uptempo. You saw us running, pushing a bit more, we picked up more full court, that’s certainly our energy level was up and that paid off.”

Wallack finished with a game-high 31 points on 13-for-15 from the field and five of six free throws.

The Bobcats now turn to another home weekend this Friday and Saturday against the 9-1 Manitoba Bisons, who just swept the host UNBC Timberwolves.

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