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Sit. Heal. Roll over. Play dead.
The UVic Vikes barked out all the commands in their weekend basketball series against No. 9-ranked Saskatchewan, muzzling the Huskies for a second straight night on Saturday.
Grant Sitton went off for 33 points 鈥� including a 6-for-7 night from the three-point line 鈥� as the now 4-0 Vikes sit atop the Pioneer Division of the sa国际传媒 West men鈥檚 standings. The Huskies are licking their wounds at 1-3.
鈥淓very weekend, obviously with sa国际传媒 West as tight as it is, is big and any time you can get two wins it鈥檚 an extra bonus,鈥� said Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp, whose team rode a strong defensive performance in Friday鈥檚 83-58 win.
The Vikes looked sluggish to start Saturday and lost their scoring leader Mack Roth to a nasty cut above his eye midway through the first quarter. He returned taped up in the second.
Victoria took its first lead with 2:35 to go in the second quarter as Jordan Charles knocked down a three-pointer for a 30-29 advantage. However, the Vikes trailed 36-34 at the half after falling behind 19-9 start after the first.
Saskatchewan went on a 10-0 run in the third, but the Vikes battled back.
Roth, who was averaging 22 points a game, gave them a spark on his return and finished with 14 points.
鈥淗e looked like a pirate from there out, but he鈥檚 a warrior and he got back in there and got some big baskets and big free throws down the stretch,鈥� Beaucamp said.
It was a far cry from a 95-72 loss to the same Huskies in the pre-season Guy Vetrie Memorial Tournament in the same gym on Oct. 3.
In women鈥檚 play, the Vikes fell behind early in an eventual 78-65 loss to No. 2-ranked Saskatch-ewan. The Vikes were down 13-2 and trailed 23-8 after the first quarter, and Victoria went to the dressing room down 37-27 at the half. It was stretched to 61-42 after the third quarter before the Vikes clawed back.
It followed an 89-83 loss on Friday.
鈥淚 think in the first game we showed what we could do, we just didn鈥檛 have the finish,鈥� said second-year guard Kristy Gallagher, a Parkland Secondary grad who led the Vikes with 22 points on Saturday. 鈥淚n the second game, we didn鈥檛 come out strong and that changes the whole game.鈥�
Nicole Karstein added 18 for Victoria (now 1-3) while Sabine Dukate and Kelsey Trulsrud had 15 each for the 4-0 Huskies.
Both the Vikes teams will entertain the Calgary Dinos next weekend at CARSA.
CIS CROWN: There were no individual medals at the CIS cross-country championships, but the Vikes men ran off with their fifth national team title in Guelph on Saturday afternoon. Victoria was led by CIS first-team All-Canadians Olivier Collin and Ryan Cassidy who finished fourth and fifth overall, respectively. Vikes head coach Brent Fougner was named CIS and sa国际传媒 West coach of the year.
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