VICTORIA – It came down to the buzzer, but the University of Victoria Vikes men's basketball team picked up their first win of the preseason.

"Our guys have been working hard and anytime you get a win, it makes things a lot easier moving forward," said Vikes Head Coach Craig Beaucamp.

Taking on the Seattle Mountaineers, a semi-professional travel team, the Vikes pulled out a 79-76 victory on Saturday night at the CARSA Performance Gym.

The Mountaineers took a 37-34 lead into halftime but ran into a different animal in the third quarter.

Local freshman Diego Maffia led the charge in the 30-point quarter with 12 of his 18 points. He finished 6-for-14 from three-point land.

As easily as the Vikes drained buckets in the third, they had a hard time shutting the Mountaineers down on the other end.

"I thought we played well and did a lot of things right in the first and second quarter, but we made a lot of unforced errors the rest of the way that gave them a chance to win in the end," said Beaucamp.

The Vikes picked up the slack and won the rebounding battle 45-32. Dominick Oliveri and Hayden Lejeune tied for the team lead with seven boards each.

Matthew Ellis also poured in an efficient game for the Vikes. He ended the night with 14 points and was a plus-8 on the floor.

Jawan Stepney was the leading scorer for the Mountaineers. The product of Central Washington University scored a game high 23 points.

The Mountaineers had the possession with enough time on the clock to tie or take the lead, but the Vikes defence shut them down at the buzzer.

The Vikes will wrap up the preseason with a pair of home games against the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades on Friday and Saturday (Oct. 25 and 26) at CARSA. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. both nights.