LANGLEY, British Columbia – In a battle of winless teams, the Trinity Western men's basketball team came up short against visiting Brandon, falling 98-87 Friday at the Langley Events Centre.
 
After a wild third quarter saw a pair of near 20-point swings, the Bobcats took control in the fourth quarter, maintaining a lead throughout, before pulling away late. Leading 85-80 in the waning stages of the fourth quarter, the Bobcats (1-12) cruised into the finish line with 13 points in the final 2:16 en route to the 11-point win.
 
The Bobcats had five different players hit double-digits in points, with Earl Thompson Jr. leading the way with 24 points to go with 10 rebounds and D.J. Jordan adding 20 points. Pookie Saunders put up 18 while John Paul had 12 points along with nine boards and Chris Stanhope contributed 10 points.
 
Kelvin Smith (Los Angeles) had a TWU career-high 31 points for the Spartans (0-13) while Lucas Mannes (Chilliwack, B.C.) added 20 points. Patrick Vandervelden (Abbotsford, B.C.) had 11 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.
 
The Bobcats shot 48.8 per cent as a team while TWU was just 41.3 per cent from the field. TWU shot 84.6 per cent (11-13) from the free throw line while Brandon shot just 45.5 per cent (10-22) from the line.
 
The teams see-sawed throughout the first quarter and by the end of it were knotted 20-20.
 
Brandon started to push the pace in the second quarter, opening a 47-41 lead at the break thanks to 16 points from Jordan and 14 from Thompson Jr. The Spartans Smith responded with 17 points while Mannes had 10 for the home side.
 
Then, in the third quarter, chaos ensued.
 
The Bobcats started the quarter with a 17-3 run that put the visitors up 64-44 and seemingly in full control. However, on the strength of 12 third-quarter points from Smith, the Spartans responded with a wild 24-5 run to close the gap to one point, 69-68. A long-range buzzer-beater from Esmat Atem put the Bobcats up 72-68 going to the fourth quarter.
 
The teams traded points through the first seven minutes of the final quarter, with Brandon maintaining at least a two-point edge. With the Bobcats up 85-80, a 3-pointer from Saunders gave Brandon an eight-point lead and put an end to any hopes of a TWU comeback. The Bobcats extended their lead to 13 points, at 93-80, before holding on for the win.
 
The teams will meet in the rematch Saturday at 7 p.m. at the LEC.
 
Game Notes: TWU had 18 turnovers to Brandon's 10…Last year, TWU and Brandon were also both winless, at 0-6, when they met in the regular season…The teams split their weekend series, with TWU winning Friday and Brandon winning Saturday.