The University of Victoria Vikes men's basketball team moved into sole possession of fourth place in the Canada West, completing the weekend sweep of the Thompson Rivers WolfPack with a 78-67 win on Saturday Feb. 5 at the Tournament Capital Centre in Kamloops, B.C.
The Vikes improve to 15-7 on the season while Thompson Rivers drops to 4-18. UVic has now won eight straight games in Canada West play and will host the second-place UBC Thunderbirds (18-2) on Feb. 18 and 19 to close out the regular season.
BOX SCORE
On Feb. 5, #
Ryan MacKinnon# led UVic with 18 points along with seven steals and four assists. #
Marco Dolcetti# added 17 points, while #
Michael Berg# had a team-high eight rebounds along with 15 points.
Greg Stewart paced the WolfPack with a game-high 24 points along with 15 rebounds in his final home game with Thompson Rivers. Chas Kok added 15 points, three assists and nine rebounds for Thompson Rivers.
UVic shot 44.4 per cent in the game and hit 10 three-pointers in the victory.
Despite jumping out to an early 20-9 lead, the Vikes led by just three points, 34-31, at the half.
But they closed out the third quarter on a 14-3 run and held off the WolfPack in the fourth with strong defence to preserve the victory.
The Vikes have a bye next weekend, while the Thunderbirds, UVic's final opponent of the season, will look to keep their 14-game win streak alive when they host Thompson Rivers. UBC trails first-place Trinity Western (19-3) by just one win but has two games in hand.
UVic, which boasts a 12-4 record on the road this season, is currently in control of a home playoff spot, trailing third-place Saskatchewan (16-4) by one game, although the Huskies have two games in hand.
Alberta (14-8) sits in fifth place and will host eighth-place Calgary (8-12) in their final two regular season games. Regina (12-8) is in sixth spot with two games in hand, facing Saskatchewan and seventh-place Manitoba (9-11) to close out the season and needing at least three wins in four games to catch the Vikes.
SCORING BY QUARTER
UVic 24 10 27 17 - 78
TRU 17 14 17 19 - 67
