VICTORIA - The University of Victoria Vikes men's basketball team fell short to their CIS Eastern competitors, the Lakehead Thunderwolves, in exhibition on Oct. 24 at the McKinnon Gymnasium. The Thunderwolves powered themselves in the final quarter to defeat the Vikes 80-71.
BOX SCORE
Lakehead fourth-year Ryan Thomson was huge for the Thunderwolves going five for nine from the top of the arc to total 19 points. Rookie guard Joe Hart added 15 points, while seniors Matt Schmidt and Ben Johnson each added 12.
The Vikes were led in scoring by Michael Acheampong (Toronto, Ont.) and Terrell Evans (Las Vegas, NV) who had 18 and 17 points, respectively. The Vikes sunk only six three-pointers relative to Lakehead's 13, which seemed to be the difference in the east versus west match up.
The Vikes men were slow to get going against the former OUA finalists, as the Thunderwolves broke out of the gates with a 22-14 lead in the first quarter. The Vikes fouled only once to put Thunderwolves' guard Dwayne Harvey to the line for the only two free throws of the quarter. Lakehead did well to limit the Vikes' options and keep the home side's top shooters off the score board
Entering the second quarter, Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp made some sharp changes that saw the UVic defense keep Lakehead off the board for nearly four minutes. The Vikes put up 12 rebounds in the second quarter and were successful in catching the Thunderwolves to enter the half-time break tied 34-34.
The Vikes were able to hang on and stay within five points at the end of the third quarter as guard Brandon Dunlop (Victoria, BC) nailed a timely trey after four consecutive scoring plays by the Thunderwolves and second-year Vijay Dhillon (Richmond, B.C.) added a late bucket to bring the score to 56-51 in favour of the visitor.
In the final quarter, Lakehead drained six three-point shots to gain as much as a 13-point lead despite the best efforts of Evans, who put up seven points in the final quarter. Evans tucked in a basket at the buzzer but the Thunderwolves cruised to a 80-71 victory.
This match up will be the final pre-season contest for the Vikes men before hosting UBC Okanagan on Nov. 2 (8 p.m.) and Nov. 3 (7 p.m.) at McKinnon Gym. Both games will be streamed live at http://canadawest.tv
