After a sluggish start for the number-one ranked University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds in the first quarterfinal match of the weekend, the Canada West champions came out hard after the half, proving their experience and beating the Atlantic University Sport finalists 96-77.

A tight first half had the Acadia Axemen smelling a big upset.

In the first half of the match, you couldn’t tell which team was the number-one seed that has been Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) finalists for the part two in years in a row and which team squeaked into nationals with a regular season record below .500.

But a strong second-half saw the Thunderbirds come back on tear and the young Axemen panicked and struggled to keep up.

Despite his team’s unimpressive first half, Thunderbird bench boss Kevin Hanson said it’s often expected that teams come out slow in the first game of a big tournament.

“The first quarters are always a sense of trying to get a feel for one another, ” Hanson said after the game. “This one lasted until halftime and then I thought our guys basically made adjustments.”

In the first half, the Axemen had 34 field goal attempts over the Thunderbirds’ 31; however, UBC was able to capitalize on more of their shots.

Fouls in the first half by both teams led to back-and-forth free throws, with Acadia going 8-12.

The Axemen were clearly ready to compete out of the gate. A clear highlight of the match was when Klassen received the ball on the low block, spun around Brent Malish to split the double team and finished with a thunderous dunk over Doug Plumb.

The Thunderbirds gave up 10 turnovers in the first half, giving the Axemen opportunities that kept them in the game.

In the second half, the Thunderbirds came out with a more aggressive defence, grabbing 18 defensive rebounds in the final two quarters.

Coach Hanson said Acadia focused on using star Owen Klassen in the first half and then the Thunderbirds collapsed on him in the second to make a difference: “I thought our post played pretty physical on him.”

Klassen had 22 points in the game, hitting three treys in the second half.