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The UVic Vikes men鈥檚 basketball team delivered a weekend sweep of the Saskatchewan Huskies, following up Friday鈥檚 come-from-behind win with an 83-76 triumph on Saturday night at CARSA Performance Gym.
Coach Craig Beaucamp drove home the importance of this weekend鈥檚 set before the games.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of parity and there鈥檚 only a couple of games separating a lot of teams. Going on the road, those games are never easy 鈥� so you really have to make sure you come ready to go in the home games and protect your home court,鈥� Beaucamp explained.
鈥淥n the road, you go out and hope to pick up a game or two, but the home games have a lot of importance.鈥�
Scott Kellum led the way with a game-high 27 points on Saturday, while Mason Loewen added 16 points and nine rebounds. Lawrence Moore had 21 in a losing cause for Saskatchewan.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e a team we鈥檙e obviously really close with. Two games when you have them at home. You have to look after them and there鈥檚 nothing easy when you鈥檙e going back-to-back,鈥� said Beaucamp, who said his team found a way despite not shooting well in the first half.
The Vikes, who outscored the Huskies 23-12 in the fourth quarter Friday, got off to a better start in Game 2, leading 9-2 early and 17-13 after the first quarter, then led by eight at the half and 54-50 after three quarters. UVic improves to 5-3 on the season with their fourth straight victory while the Huskies slip to 2-4.
In women鈥檚 play, the No. 8-rated Huskies remain undefeated at 6-0 with an overwhelming 96-63 victory over a rather flat looking Vikes team that has now suffered a fourth straight setback to even their record at 4-4.
The Huskies were 12-of-19 from three-point land, including 4-for-4 from Maya Olynyk, 3-of-3 for Madeline Humbert and 3-of-5 from Sabine Dukate.
鈥淭otal lacklustre effort from us,鈥� said frustrated Vikes coach Dani Sinclair. 鈥淲e had some energy from some kids off the bench. Offensively, in the first half, we were totally disorganized. Our bad shots were like turnovers that led to layups for them.
鈥淚t was the same story with the threes,鈥� she said of uncontested shots beyond the arc. 鈥淭o me, that鈥檚 lack of communication and a lack of effort to get through and contest. We have maybe one person playing at an elite level defensively in Marissa [Dheensaw]. It鈥檚 pretty scary giving up 80, 90 to nearly 100 points to anybody.鈥�
Kristy Gallagher had a game-high 23 points for the Vikes.
Both Vikes teams now have byes this coming week before heading to Edmonton to face the U of A Golden Bears and Pandas in two weeks time before venturing into the holiday break.
鈥淲e have to think about what type of team we want to be and where we want to get to,鈥� said Sinclair. 鈥淭o almost be a no-show on Saturday night at home is baffling to me and it comes back to building those habits in practice.鈥�
