The University of Victoria Vikes men's basketball team were served their first loss of the regular season tonight, Nov. 21, falling 82-70 to the Saskatchewan Huskies at the PAC in Saskatoon, Sask. The No. 9 Huskies upset the No. 7 Vikes to improve their record to 3-2, while Victoria fall to 4-1.

Fourth-year point guard Marcus Tibbs led the Vikes in scoring for the first time in regular season play, netting 18 points and adding four assists. Fifth-year forward Chris McLaughlin added a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds. Jordan Charles chipped in another 10 points, six of which game from distance buckets. 

Saskatchewan's Evan Ostertag scored a season-high and game-high 24 points in the win. The fourth-year guard from Saskatoon scored 11 of his 24 points in the first half and netted another 13 in the second half. Ostertag also recorded two rebounds, two assists and two steals in his 28 minutes of play.

Three more Huskies scored double digits including college-transfer Mike Scott with 19 points, fifth-year guard Ben Baker with 14 and Dadrian Collins at 11. Matthew Forbes led the Huskies on boards with 10 rebounds.

The Vikes were on par, 17-17, after the opening 10 minutes of play that saw the visitors get to as much as a five-point lead. Saskatchewan's rallied back thanks to a key and-one play from Baker.

It was the second quarter that was the difference in the game for the Huskies. Saskatchewan pulled away to a large lead after scoring 29 points in the second frame. The Vikes scored just 14 in the quarter to trail 46-31 entering half time.

Trading the first few points of the second quarter to stay tight, a Scott jumper gave the Huskies a 21-19 lead. It sparked a Saskatchewan 8-2 run and Victoria couldn't recover. The Huskies remained in the lead for the remainder of the game.

By the end of the third quarter, the Vikes had chipped away at the Huskies lead to be down by nine at 63-54 and pulled within seven to begin the final quarter.  It was as close as Victoria would come.

Saskatchewan shot at 45 per cent in the win, while Victoria shot at 44 per cent. The Vikes were 28 per cent from distance and conceded 18 turnovers to the Huskies' nine. 

The battle of the CIS Top 10 teams continues Saturday night at the PAC. Tipoff is at 8 p.m. CST and can be viewed on canadawest.tv. 

SCORING SUMMARY
UVIC: 17-14-23-16 : 70
SASK: 17-29-17-19 : 82

SCORING LEADERS
UVIC: Marcus Tibbs (18), Chris McLaughlin (16), Jordan Charles (10)
SASK: Evan Ostertag (24), Mike Scott (19), Ben Baker (14)