At some point tonight in Abbotsford, Diego Maffia will become the greatest scorer in University of Victoria men’s basketball history, as the Vikes play the Fraser Valley Cascades.
The searing shooting-guard is six points behind all-time UVic scoring leader Spencer McKay, who represented sa国际传媒 in the Pan Am Games and FIBA World Cup. McKay had 1,657 career sa国际传媒 West regular-season points between 1986 and 1991. Maffia relegated 2000 Sydney Olympian Eric Hinrichsen, who had 1,586 points for UVic between 1994 and 1999, to third place on the all-time Vikes list and now sits poised second at 1,651 points.
“It’s an amazing career accomplishment for a special player,” said first-year UVic head coach Murphy Burnatowski.
“That it comes in a program with such a storied history as UVic’s makes it all that more impressive and noteworthy.”
The defending U Sports national MVP and two-time national scoring leader Maffia, out of Oak Bay Secondary, is averaging a sa国际传媒 West second-leading 23 points per game this season and should break the UVic all-time record as early as the first quarter tonight.
“Diego has a knack for the big moments and will be in the U Sports all-time top-10 before he is done,” said Burnatowski, himself a former Canadian junior national team player and European pro.
The Vikes, however, are moving and sharing the ball this season, so if opponents key on or double-team Maffia, there are so many other weapons with which UVic can hurt you.
“We don’t need 40 minutes from Diego to get the job done,” said Burnatowski.
UVic’s depth has allowed the team, ranked No. 1 in the U Sports national top-10 poll, to run up a 6-0 record in sa国际传媒 West and 13-1 overall with the only loss to NCAA Div. 1 Rhode Island.
“Individual accomplishments feel good but I just want to win,” says Maffia.
UVic beat Fraser Valley (3-3 in conference) by a comfortable 91-65 margin in their first meeting this season but that means nothing, stressed Burnatowski: “We can’t get into vacation mode too early and take anything for granted, especially coming off two emotional games [the sweep last weekend of the then U Sports national No. 2-ranked UBC Thunderbirds].”
There is also a trend of the Vikes going into cruise control this season after taking big leads.
“We have a tendency to take our foot off the gas pedal. We have to learn that you might not get a chance to put it back on.”
The Vikes and Cascades meet again Saturday night in UVic’s last game before the Christmas break. Other sa国际传媒 West teams play next weekend but it is UVic’s scheduled bye week.
The UVic Vikes women’s basketball team (3-3 in conference) meets the 5-1 Cascades tonight and Saturday in Abbotsford. Fraser Valley, a reliable sa国际传媒 West power of recent seasons, has won the last five meetings against the Vikes although UVic almost had the Cascades in a 57-52 loss in the opening weekend of the season.
Vikes post-player Abigail Becker has been a factor in the middle and is tied for third in sa国际传媒 West rebounding with an 8.7 per-game average and leads the team in scoring with 12.3 points per game.
HOOPS NOTES: Burnatowski remembered fellow Canadian basketball player Chad Posthumus, who died Thursday at 33 after a brain aneurysm: “It’s terrible news to absorb. We were roomates on the road. Chad was the focal point of every game he was in and he lived life to the fullest.”
