The quarter-final stage is often the trickiest in single-knockout university conference basketball. The top-seed University of Victoria Vikes defeated the stubborn and spikey Brandon Bobcats 98-85 on Thursday in Winnipeg to advance to the sa国际传媒 West men’s semifinals on Saturday.
The upstart and 10th-seed UVic women’s team, meanwhile, upset the second-seed UBC Thunderbirds 66-63 in their quarter-final match-up in Abbotsford to also advance to the sa国际传媒 West semifinals Saturday.
The Vikes men are the top-ranked team in sa国际传媒 but that would have meant little if upset at the quarter-final stage in conference.
“There is no wild-card, no back door [to nationals], if you lose in the conference quarters,” said UVic head coach Craig Beaucamp.
The eighth-seed Bobcats led by eight points early, and 23-20 after the first quarter, against the favoured Vikes.
“It was a very difficult match-up against a very small but well-shooting Brandon team that is sort of a [sa国际传媒 West] version of the Golden State Warriors,” Beaucamp told the sa国际传媒.
“We found a way to persevere and that’s the only thing that matters.”
The Bobcats outlasted the ninth-seed University of Saskatchewan Huskies 62-55 on Wednesday in the play-in first-round to earn the quarter-final berth against the Vikes, who had drawn a first-round bye as the conference first-place team in the regular season.
“We left it out there. Five years from now, 10 years from now, we’ll get together and [be] proud of our effort,” Brandon head coach Gil Cheung said in a statement.
“We gave the number one team in the country a run for three and a half quarters. They made some plays. We’re not going to hang our heads. We did everything we could. I’m proud of those guys.”
UVic advanced to the semifinals where they’ll face the No. 12-seed UNBC Timberwolves who upset the No. 4-seed Manitoba Bisons 84-78 in their quarter-final game.
Back-to-back sa国际传媒 West MVP and nervy UVic shooting-guard Diego Maffia put up 34 points, including making a team-playoff-record eight three-pointers, for UVic against Brandon and again proved a steely competitor.
“We got some big shots from Diego, contributions from different guys, some key offensive rebounds and we got to the foul line,” said Beaucamp, who was named sa国际传媒 West coach of the year.
The offensive rebounds were critical in keeping possession for UVic and allowing Maffia to attempt 23 three-point shots, several that went in after the initial attempt failed.
“My teammates trust me,” Oak Bay-product Maffia said in a statement following the game.
“I don’t think I was great today … but that fuels me. That’s my competitive nature. Moments like that are when I thrive. I don’t feel any pressure.”
Vikes stretch-guard Elias Ralph showed why he was selected a sa国际传媒 West second-team all-star by hitting for 22 points and bringing down nine rebounds. Renoldo Robinson, ever a dynamic and dangerous presence for the Vikes, added 14 points and Cowichan Secondary-product and six-foot-four forward Shadynn Smid 11 points and eight rebounds. Izzy Helman, a guard out of Claremont Secondary who had six points, was good on all three of his free throws in crucial moments down the stretch.
UVic has won eight national men’s championships but is after its first since 2000 Sydney Olympian Eric Hinrichsen led the Vikes to the 1997 crown.
Meanwhile, Parksville’s Abigail Becker scored 20 points, Tana Pankratz 13 and Mimi Sigue 12 as the UVic women’s squad recorded their upset of UBC. It was a significant personal result for Vikes head coach Carrie Watts, a former national-team player who starred at UBC and then was assistant coach with the Thunderbirds for nearly two decades.
“It’s sweet when a playoff win comes in a rivalry such as this,” said Watts.
Especially for a Vikes team that won its eighth consecutive game after starting the season with seven consecutive conference losses.
“I told the players you’ve got to believe the adversity we faced then is going to pay off down the stretch,” said Watts.
“We have been steady and disciplined down the stretch, especially on defence.”
The Vikes, who beat the seventh-seed Lethbridge Pronghorns 54-43 in the play-in opening round of the playoffs Wednesday, will meet the Alberta Pandas in the semifinals at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Abbotsford.
