VANCOUVER - The UVic Vikes men's basketball team suffered a 90-41 loss to the UBC Thunderbirds, but their playoff hopes stayed alive with Trinity Western's loss to Fraser Valley.
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Despite enduring one of the worst losses in team history, the Vikes remained in the hunt for fourth place and a wildcard berth for the Canada West playoffs. The Vikes need to win at home next weekend versus no. 7 Simon Fraser, and also need Trinity Western to lose at UBC.
Trinity Western was swept in their weekend series at Fraser Valley and fall to 9-8. The Vikes are currently 8-9. The deciding tie-breaker is division win-loss percentage, in which UVic owns the advantage.
Saturday night at War Memorial Gym, nothing went right for the Vikes who trailed 30-2 after the first quarter. The Vikes finished the night shooting 18 percent and trailed by 54 points at one point.
Zac Andrus was the only UVic player to crack double figures, with the second year guard scoring 12 points behind 8-9 free-throw shooting.
Ryan MacKinnon also added eight points.
UBC received 28 points from guard Josh Whyte, who shot 9-14 and converted 7-9 free-throws. Nathan Yu came off the bench to deliver 14 points, and Kamar Burke realized the double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
The Vikes return to McKinnon Gym on Saturday to face the Simon Fraser Clan in a must-win game. Simon Fraser is 14-3 and have already sewed up the no. 2 seed in the Pacific division. Tip off is 3 p.m.