VICTORIA – Former Vike Reese Pribilsky served all the damage needed for the Thompson Rivers WolfPack to pull off a much-deserved upset over the No. 3-ranked University of Victoria Vikes men's basketball team, 82-68, on Feb. 7 at McKinnon Gym. With the loss the Vikes fall 16-3, while the WolfPack improve to 12-7.
 
BOX SCORE
 
The Vikes were held to under 40 per cent in shooting as Terrell Evans had a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Marcus Tibbs, Reiner Theil and Mack Roth each ended the night with 10 points. Chris McLaughlin couldn't find a scoring touch but led with a team-high 13 rebounds as the Vikes had to rely on 22 bench points.
 
For the heroic WolfPack, with only seven active players on tonight's roster, Pribilsky played 40 minutes straight and put up 26 points and eight rebounds. Third year Ta'Quan Zimmerman made up the rest of the scoring with 31 points in 38 minutes played, while six-foot-ten post Josh Wolfram was key defensively with a game-high 14 boards. Thompson Rivers conceded only four personal fouls and four turnovers all game and shot 46 per cent from distance.

"We couldn't find any rhythm through any point in the game tonight," said Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp after his team's third loss of the season. "The wheels sort of fell off in the fourth quarter and we really struggled both offensively and defensively."
 
An even scoring first half made for an entertaining but quick start to a competitive match up that saw the Vikes take a narrow 37-34 lead after two quarters. The teams traded buckets for the opening 10 points, while both teams were on target from beyond the arc all half. It was a tidy box score with only five fouls total in the first half and minimal turnovers.
 
It was a scoring-by-committee theme for both teams in the opening frame but the niceness turned ugly in the second as both started to convert on their offensive patterns. Patrick Pilato came off the bench to hit two big distance shots to help the Vikes total 7-for-19 from distance, while Pribilsky was lethal going four-for-five. The deep Victoria bench proved useful as John Woldu, Mack Roth and Pilato stepped on showing confident ball movement to run the Thompson Rivers seven-man bench.
 
The distance scoring frenzy continued as both teams continued to be rewarded for their offensive efforts. WolfPack guard Brett Rouault opened with two three-point shots after a quiet first half to boost the visitors into a brief lead, while third-year Tibbs kept the Vikes in check, tying 42-42, with a long-range shot from the left side. The WolfPack showed little evidence of fatigue, as both teams remained neck-in-neck to end the third tied 53-53.
 
An incredible fourth-quarter push by the visitors sparked an impressive Zimmerman and Pribisky show got Thompson Rivers to a 76-66 lead with under two minutes to go. The biggest dagger what a cut-throat shot from nearly 30-feet out served up by Pribilsky, his fifth three of the night, to give the WolfPack an eight-point lead. A series of missed opportunities for the Vikes allowed Zimmerman to put the nail in the coffin in the other end and give the visitors a much-needed 82-68 win over the No. 3-ranked team in the country.

"This is what Canada West basketball is like and tomorrow we just need to come out and make the adjustments," added Beaucamp. "You win as a team and lose as a team and tonight we lost to the better team. Hopefully this just motivates us to get better."
 
The Vikes men's and women's basketball teams made 17 three-point shots on KidSport night to assist in the donation of over $1650 to the Canada West supported initiative. The Vikes and WolfPack will battle again at McKinnon Gym tomorrow, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live at canadawest.tv. The Vikes are already guaranteed to host the first round of playoffs with the Canada West quarter-final best-of-three series set for Feb. 21-23 at McKinnon Gym.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
TRU: 18-16-19-29  : 82
VIC: 15-22-16-15  : 68
 
SCORING LEADERS
TRU: Ta-Quan Zimmerman (31), Reese Pribilsky (26)
VIC: Terrell Evans (15), Marcus Tibbs (10), Reiner Theil (10), Mack Roth (10)