Box Score VICTORIA – The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds earned the split against the University of Victoria Vikes with the 87-77 win on Saturday night during Canada West action at the CARSA Performance Gym.

In the series opener, Matthew Ellis couldn't miss for the Vikes (10-4).

This time, it was Jadon Cohee's turn for the Thunderbirds. The fifth-year senior was on fire and only missed three shots en route to victory.

Cohee exploited favourable matchups, as the Vikes saw three starters all pick up their second fouls early into the second quarter.

"We got off to a bad start tonight with some foul trouble. Our rotations were already short coming in with some injuries to begin with," said Vikes Head Coach Craig Beaucamp. "We gave away too many fouls too early and had guys sitting on the bench."

With those mismatches, Cohee thrived. He was perfect into the break and clanked his first miss midway through the third. Doing most of his damage from just outside the paint, Cohee also mixed in pair triples to set a game high 29 points.

When Cohee needed a breather in the first, Jack Cruz-Dumont sparked the Thunderbirds coming off the bench. The freshman guard hit nailed a deep one to bump him to seven points, which went nicely with his four rebounds in an efficient 5:21 of work.

If it wasn't Cohee shooting the lights out, it was the rest of the Thunderbirds who stuck it to the Vikes off turnovers.

They got to the tin for 13 points off turnovers, 11 of which came in transition in the first half.

During halftime, the university honoured the men's rugby program for winning the Canadian University Men's Rugby Championship last November. The players received gifts and took a photo with the trophy and banner.

But the Vikes tightened that aspect of their game in the second half, but the Thunderbirds (12-4) used cutters and ball movements to find open shots instead. They shot 55.0 per cent overall and 66.7 per cent from inside the arc.

"I thought we did a good job stemming the tide in the first half, but right before the end of the second, they hit some shots and a six-point deficit turned into 14 and we ended up chasing the rest of the game and couldn't get any rhythm going on either side of the ball," said Beaucamp.

Limiting the Vikes in the interior was the fact that they were without forward Carlos Costa, who was injured in the series opener on Thursday. He joined the conference's leading rebounder, Dominick Oliveri in street clothes.

Multiple times in the second half the Vikes cut the Thunderbirds' lead to eight or 10 thanks in part to their captain finding his game.

Held without a bucket through the first half, Scott Kellum erupted with three threes to finish with 15 points.

In the Thursday night opener, freshman guard Diego Maffia was held to five points on 2-of-8 shots. In the rematch, his shots weren't falling at a stellar clip, but he still delivered four triples to lead the Vikes with 19 points.

After coming up a little lame after battling for a rebound in the second quarter, Matthew Ellis shook off whatever ailment was bothering him and maintained his touch around the rim. The transfer from the University of Calgary posted 16 points on 13 shots and five rebounds.

His frontcourt mate Jason Scully turned a solid nine-point performance in the first half to 14 for the game, with six rebounds and five assists.

While the Vikes offence picked up in the second half, the Thunderbirds kept hitting shots from all over the floor.

Grant Shephard hit 3-of-5 shots, Manroop Clair cashed in on a 6-of-11 night which included a pair of threes for 15 points and Zack Moore canned a three before halftime for the Thunderbirds.

"When guys get confident, they play better. With our fouls, we gave a couple of their good players the confidence to get going. Once they found that, the basket looked pretty big for them," said Beaucamp.

With the win, the Thunderbirds clinched their second-straight Legends Cup.

The Thunderbirds tangle with the Grant MacEwan University Griffins (0-13) next weekend, while the Vikes welcome the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack (11-3) to Ken and Kathy Shields Court. Catch all the action on Canada West TV, presented by CO-OP.