VANCOUVER – The University of Victoria Vikes men's basketball team will move on to meet Pacific Division rivals the UBC Thunderbirds in the Canada West gold medal game after they downed the Winnipeg Wesmen 72-59 on Mar. 1 in the semifinal game at War Memorial Gym in Vancouver. With the semifinal wins, both the Birds and Vikes have secured spots at the CIS national championship Final 8 tournament, hosted in Ottawa, Mar. 8-10.

BOX SCORE   /  LIVE VIDEO & STATS

Third-year forward Chris McLaughlin (Oakville, ON) tallied in a game-high 23 points and added 15 rebounds for the game's only double-double. Canada West second–team all-star Terrell Evans (Las Vegas, NV) contributed big with 19 points and five rebounds to help the Vikes shoot 49.2 per cent from the field and win the boards 50-25 over the Wesmen.

Steven Wesley led the Wesmen with 17 points and six rebounds. Benny Iko had 10 points and five boards.

“It seemed like it was a bit of an ugly game at first,” said recently named Canada West Coach of the Year and Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp. “We talked before that you need to win games that you don't necessarily play well or shoot well in. Today, our defence work is what won the game for us. We held them to 59 points and gave ourselves a chance and in the fourth quarter, when the game was on the line, we were able to hold them to 13 points.”

The game was air-tight for the opening three quarters, with the Wesmen edging the Vikes 16-15 after the first. McLaughlin started his scoring tear early, finishing the first half with 11 points and nine rebounds, making good on all field attempts and shots from the free-throw line. Victoria took the 33—30 lead entering the half-time break.

In the third quarter, the Vikes gained some momentum as McLaughlin continued to find success in the paint, while Reiner Theil (West Vancouver, B.C.) hit the Vikes' only three-pointer of the night to take an important 40-37 advantage. Winnipeg's Iko closed out the quarter with a huge shot from outside the arc despite the Wesmen trailing 49-46 entering the final quarter.

The Vikes started to pull in front in the fourth, as the Wesmen struggled to contain six-foot-ten center McLaughlin, who had a three to four inch height advantage over anyone guarding him. McLaughlin closed the night shooting 9-12 from the field.

Down by four, the Wesmen seemed to find some flow after a big defensive stop and subsequent rebound. McLaughlin cleaned up, wrestling the rebound away from the Winnipeg defense to get a timely shot up through traffic. McLaughlin's shot dropped for two and he made the free throw on the foul to complete the three-point play, pushing the Vikes up 57-50. With the chance of cutting the Vikes' lead within reach, the Wesmen were unable to climb their way back.

The Vikes grabbed 15 offensive rebounds compared to the 16 defensive boards for the Wesmen. Winning the war on the boards gave the Vikes a 20-10 edge in second-chance points, which seemed to be the deciding factor in the 72-59 win.

The Vikes needed every bit of that favourable rebounding margin too, as their 19 turnovers threatened to let the Wesmen surge ahead at times. Winnipeg coughed the ball up only eight times, but they struggled to capitalize on their extra chances thanks to Victoria's size advantage on defence.

The Wesmen will take on the Fraser Valley Cascades for Canada West bronze on Saturday at 6 p.m. The winner of that game is also still technically alive for CIS Final Eight consideration via the lone at-large berth available nationally.

Victoria goes up against Final Four host, the UBC Thunderbirds, for the Canada West title at 8 p.m. Both the Vikes and Thunderbirds automatically advance to the CIS tournament. Conference bronze and gold medal games will be streamed live at http://canadawest.tv
 
For information on the CIS national Final 8 tournament visit: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mbkb/index