The University of Victoria Vikes (15-1), ranked No. 5 in sa国际传媒, received a bit of a scare from the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack (4-13) on Tuesday evening at CARSA gym. The Vikes trailed in the third quarter before rallying for an 84-59 sa国际传媒 West victory in men’s basketball, backed by fifth-year guard Scott Kellum’s 19 points in his final career home regular-season game.
“It’s been a long journey and this is a special group of guys to finish off my career with,” said Kellum, the native of Issaquah, Washington, who will conclude his Vikes run as a top-10 career scorer with the team and the leading three-point shooter in team history.
“We are super focused and don’t worry about our national ranking or things like that.”
Guard Diego Maffia added 16 points for UVic and guard Elias Ralph 13 and forward Ethan Boag 11. Forward Dominick Oliveri pulled down 15 boards.
“Everybody contributes. We have the best depth in the country,” said Ralph, the emerging freshman from Okotoks, Alta., who said this group is capable of a deep playoff run.
“We are confident and mentally focused.”
There is a short turnaround to the regular-season concluding games Thursday in Kelowna against UBC-Okanagan and Saturday in Prince George against the University of Northern sa国际传媒 Timberwolves. The playoffs begin the following week with Calgary and Lethbridge hosting the opening round.
The UVic women’s team (9-7) concludes its sa国际传媒 West regular season Thursday at UBC-Okanagan and Saturday at UNBC.
