The University of Victoria Vikes led by four points at the half but ran into the hot play and outside shooting of Daniel Ferguson, falling 86-79 in Edmonton in the third and final game of the Canada West quarter-final series.

Ferguson recorded a game-high 34 points including four three-pointers along with four rebounds and two steals in the win for Alberta.

BOX SCORE

With the win, Alberta advances to the Canada West Final Four next weekend. The top two teams in the Canada West advance to the CIS men's basketball national championships in Halifax in March.

In their final game with the Vikes, seniors #Jeff Cullen# and #Wendell Thomas# led UVic with 16 and 15 points respectively. #Jeff Spoor#, with nine points including the final three-pointer at the buzzer, and #Marco Dolcetti#, with five points, also played their last contest for the blue and gold. #Michael Berg# was effective once again for the Vikes with 14 points.

Alberta also had a solid effort from Kenneth Otienno who had 14 points, seven rebounds and two steals. Jordan Baker added 19 points, five rebounds and a crucial and controversial block in the final 45 seconds. The Golden Bears shot 60% from the field.

Less than five minutes into the game, Vikes guard #Ryan MacKinnon# picked up his second personal foul, sending him to the bench. He finished with nine points and three rebounds.

Ferguson scored two long-range three-pointers to give host Alberta a 18-15 lead in a back-and-forth thriller in the opening quarter. UVic led 19-18 after the opening 10 minutes.

After the Vikes took a 24-20 lead early in the second quarter, the Bears went on a 7-0 run to force a Victoria timeout. But UVic regrouped, outscoring Alberta 16-9 in the rest of the second quarter to take a 40-36 lead into the halftime break.

Another long-range Ferguson three-pointer with just under two minutes left in the third quarter made it 60-53 for the Bears, deflating the Vikes. Alberta led 63-57 after the third.

The Golden Bears continued to control the play in the fourth quarter, as the physical play picked up and the Bears built a nine-point lead at 78-69 with 3:40 remaining.

UVic pulled back within six points and looked like they were about to cut the lead to four when Baker issued a controversial and physical block on MacKinnon with 45 seconds left after the Vikes guard had just picked off a poor Alberta pass near midcourt that started as a breakaway before Baker came in from behind.

The Vikes were unable to score on the next possession and were forced to foul, allowing the Bears to close out the game at the free-throw line.

NOTES: This was likely the final game on the UA Court with a new facility being built with the Bears likely to play the remainder of the playoffs on the road

SCORING BY QUARTER
UVic        19    21    17    22 - 79
Alberta    18    18    27    23 - 86

SCORING BY HALF
UVic        40    39 - 79
Alberta    36    50 - 86

TOP SCORERS
UVic: Jeff Cullen, 16 points
Alberta: Daniel Ferguson, 34 points