VICTORIA – It will be a bitter-sweet ending for University of Victoria Vikes men's basketball players Reiner Theil, Mack Roth and Brandon Dunlop, this weekend as the trio of graduating seniors will play their final games in a Vikes uniform. The Brandon Bobcats (1-17) are in town, Feb. 19-20, for the Vikes' final Canada West games after last weekend's results knocked Victoria (7-11) out of the post-season.
 
"We obviously want to finish off on a positive note," said Vikes men's basketball head coach Craig Beaucamp, who has taken his team to the CIS Championship for the past three seasons. "We have three guys who have made significant contributions and this is obviously a very different situation for them."
 
This is the first time since 2009 that the Vikes have not qualified for the post-season, while the last time before that was in 2003 and 2002. The Vikes re-appeared at the CIS Final 8 in 2012 and continued that trend for three years with likely influence from Vikes heavyweights and CIS All-Canadians Terrell Evans and Chris McLaughlin, while before that the Vikes stemmed post-season success from 2012 CIS All-Canadian Ryan MacKinnon.
 
This year's Vikes contingent, however, grew through a re-building season with just three fifth years in former Canada West Defensive Player of the Year Reiner Theil, guard-forward Mack Roth, who transferred in his third year from UBC Okanagan, and point guard Brandon Dunlop, who returned for his fifth year after playing with the Vikes in 2007, 2008 and 2012.
 
"They have been our leaders in a tough year," said Beaucamp of his veterans Theil, Roth and Dunlop. "All three are used to playing in the national championships and Canada West Final 4 and here we are in a year where we were just trying to make playoffs. So, you require a bit of a different form of leadership from your seniors in this case, especially when you're not winning games. They have all done their best to lead this young group and were great role models for how you practice each day, how you approach games and really what it means to be a student-athlete."
 
"In that regard, all three of them have had incredibly successful seasons. It's not necessarily something that transfers to wins and losses but they have done something that is a bit bigger picture in helping shape what the program will look like for the future."
 
With the departure of these three seniors, the Vikes turn to just one fourth year player in six-foot-nine forward Grant Sitton, while the rest of the squad is third year or younger. Third years Jordan Charles and Hassan Abdullahi are next on the seniority list, while there is an array of first and second years eager to push for a more solid spot on the team. Five freshmen are knocking on the door step for a chance to dawn the blue and gold more full time, while second years Justin Kinnear and Hayden Lejeune have had more quality looks at that opportunity this season.
 
Before the team jumps the gun to look at next season the Vikes will focus on a quality finish for their final two games including looking for a solid offensive performance from leading scorer Roth, currently averaging 15.6 points per game. Sitton and Charles are next on the scoring table, averaging 14.4 and 10.2 points per game, respectively. Unsurprisingly, veteran Theil leads the Vikes defensively, averaging 6.9 rebounds per game.
 
The Bobcats, who have just one win under their belts, will also be looking to finish their season on a high note despite sitting at the bottom of the standings table for most of the season. Brandon have relied on a trio of their own to do most of the offensive damage including D.J. Jordan, Earl Thompson Jr. and Troy Grant. Jordan leads all Bobcats with an average of 17.2 points per game while Thompson and Grant have 15.9 and 11.1 points per game, respectively. Last weekend the Bobcats lost both games to the UBC Thunderbirds and their only win of the season came on Jan. 29 when they split the weekend with Trinity Western, also 1-17, winning 98-87.
 
The Vikes had a bye weekend, Feb. 12-13, and are charged with fresh legs for their final weekend of play. Friday tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m., while Saturday's game will happen at 7:00 p.m. Both games are at the CARSA Performance Gym and ticket information is available at govikesgo.com/tickets. The final regular season games will also be broadcast with live pay-per-view video and stats at uvic.canadawest.tv while free stats are available online via canadawest.org.