KAMLOOPS – The Thompson Rivers WolfPack men's basketball team and the UBC Okanagan Heat went toe-to-toe all night long but it was the visiting Heat who would come out on top with an 81-73 victory on Saturday night.
 
The difference on the night came in a third quarter that saw the Heat pull out to a double-digit lead that they wouldn't surrender the rest of the way. UBCO's biggest advantage in the boxscore came in their depth of scoring. The Heat recorded 41 bench points to the WolfPack's 19.
 
Four players carried the load offensively for the 'Pack. Asher Mayan had a game-high 22 points thanks in large part to going 16-17 from the charity stripe. Brad King had 18 points and 10 boards for the double-double while Daniel Bost and Brendan Sullivan added 15 and 10 points respectively.
 
For the Heat Jesse Vogel was clutch all night long. Despite not starting the product of Las Vegas was 7-13 from the floor en route to 21 points. Liban Yousef scored 15 off the bench while Kevin Hamlet had 11, Gus Goerzen 10 and Keaton Souster nine.
 
A back-and-forth first half saw the Heat take a slim 38-34 lead into the break thanks in large part to 11 points from Yousef.

A 14-4 run to start the second half that included eight points from Hamlet put the Heat up 52-39 and gave them a lead that would last the rest of the way.
 
The WolfPack threatened multiple times down the stretch, drawing the game to as close as four points a few times, but Vogel was there every time his team needed him to score some quick points and balloon the lead back out.
 
The win was the first of the season for the Heat who are no 1-7 on the year while the WolfPack fall to .500 on the year with a record of 4-4 and in sole possession of third place of the West division.
 
UBCO will now enter their winter break with their next Canada West action coming on January 13. For the WolfPack there is one game left in the first semester when they host the Fraser Valley Cascades inside the TCC on Thursday, December 2.