VICTORIA – The No. 4 ranked University of Victoria Vikes opened up their best-of-three quarterfinal series with a 51-79 loss to the Winnipeg Wesmen, Feb. 21 at McKinnon Gymnasium. The loss means the Vikes will have to win their remaining two games in the best-of-three series to avoid being eliminated in the opening round.
 
BOX SCORE
 
Third-year Vike Ryan Erikson carried the Vikes on offence, collecting 20 points in 24 minutes of play. Erikson was the lone Vike to enter double-digits Friday, with senior Vikes Terrell Evans and Chris McLaughlin rounding out the top-3 scorers for the home side with eight and six points, respectively. Evans also collected 10 boards in the contest.
 
Three players entered double digits for the Wesman including Jelane Pryce, who came off the bench to lead his squad with 19 points and nine rebounds. Teammates Steven Wesley and Andrew Cunningham added 17 and 10 points, respectively.
 
The Vikes came out slow to start the game, posting just five points to Winnipeg's 18 in the opening frame. McLaughlin, Evans and Erikson were the only Victoria players to register points in the first quarter, while Winnipeg's Wesley posted seven points in the opening frame.
 
The Vikes offence rebounded with a significantly better quarter in the second, putting up 17 points including eight from Erikson, who went four-for-five on field goal attempts in eight minutes of play. Evans added five in the second to push the Vikes points total to 22, but Winnipeg's offence continued to roll, with Pryce taking over on offence with eight points in the frame to push the Wesmen up to 35-22 at the half.
 
Winnipeg's offence continued to fire in the second half, with Wesley adding another five points to bring his point total up to 15 in the game. The Wesmen tallied their highest quarter of scoring in the third with 23 points, while the Vikes put up 13. Unable to put together an extended run of points through the final two quarters of play, the Vikes were defeated 79-51, dropping them to 0-1 in their Canada West quarterfinal series.
 
"It started in the first quarter for us," said Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp. "We got outscored 18-5. We have to have a short memory, walk out of here tonight and refocus for tomorrow, understand that it's a three game series and it takes two to win."
 
The two sides meet again tomorrow, Feb. 22 at McKinnon Gymnasium. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. and will be broadcast live on www.canadawest.tv.