VICTORIA – Fresh off a quarterfinal comeback against the Winnipeg Wesmen, the University of Victoria Vikes men's basketball team will head to Edmonton, Alta. for the Canada West semifinals, Feb. 28 – Mar. 1, hosted by the University of Alberta. Semifinal winners automatically qualify for the 2014 CIS Men's Basketball Championships, hosted by Carleton University.
LIVE STREAM & STATS
Ranked fourth in the country entering this weekend, the Vikes will face off against the No. 8-ranked University of Fraser Valley Cascades (17-5), while No. 3-ranked University of Alberta Golden Bears (20-2) will face off against the No. 10 University of Saskatchewan Huskies (15-7) in the other semifinal matchup.
The Vikes and Cascades met in back-to-back matches at McKinnon Gymnasium, Nov. 8-9 this season, with the Vikes walking away with two weekend victories. Vikes
Terrell Evans (Las Vegas, NV),
Chris McLaughlin (Oakville, ON) and
Reiner Theil (West Vancouver, BC) were the top-3 point producers for Victoria on both nights.
Evans led the Vikes on offence through the regular season, putting up an average of 18.1 points-per-game and finishing as the leading scorer in 14 of 22 games played. Six-foot-ten teammate McLaughlin led Victoria in rebounds, collecting an average of 8.2 per-game.
For the second year in a row, the Vikes entered the playoffs with the top-scoring defence in Canada West at 60.2 points-per-game, along with the second-best scoring margin (+13.8) and field goal percentage (.457).
The Cascades enter this weekend having swept the Lethbridge Pronghorns in their Canada West quarterfinal series, narrowly defeating the 'Horns 66-64, Feb. 20 before earning a convincing 77-62 win a night later to qualify for the Final Four.
Cascade guard Kevin Parchment led his team on offence during the regular season with an average of 17.2 points-per-game while fourth-year teammate Jasper Moedt led in rebounds with 9.1 per-game. The pair combined to lead their squad in scoring in 15 out of 22 games this season.
The Vikes and Cascades face off Friday, Feb. 28 at 3:00 p.m. at the University of Alberta with the winner moving on to Saturday's final while also earning an automatic berth in the CIS national championships. Both games will be streamed live at
www.canadawest.tv with video and stats.
2014 Canada West Final Four Schedule
Envision Athletics Centre – Edmonton, Alta.
Friday, February 28 – Semifinals
3:00 p.m. : (2) Victoria vs. (3) University of Fraser Valley
7:00 p.m. : (1) University of Alberta vs. (4) University of Saskatchewan
Saturday, March 1 – Finals
2:00 p.m. : Bronze Medal Game
6:00 p.m. : Gold Medal Game
All game times in PST. Semifinal winners will automatically advance to the CIS National Championship, hosted by Carleton University, Mar. 7-9, 2014.
-30-
