CALGARY 79
VICTORIA 75
The University of Victoria Vikes men鈥檚 basketball team took great pride in knocking the previous No. 9-rated Saskatchewan Huskies out of the nation鈥檚 Top 10 rankings after a pair of victories last weekend at CARSA performance gym.
Coach Craig Beaucamp鈥檚 crew was close to pulling off a similar trick this weekend, settling on a split with the No. 7 Calgary Dinos 鈥 falling short in a 79-75 loss on Saturday, after a last-second one-point win on Friday.
The now 5-1 Vikes were honourable mentions on last week鈥檚 CIS poll, but have definitely opened some eyes early on in the sa国际传媒 West campaign.
Calgary, now at 4-2, may take a slight fall in this week鈥檚 national rankings and the Vikes may make their first appearance.
Not that it matters to head coach Craig Beaucamp.
鈥淲e just try and focus on this game, the next game and the next practice,鈥 said Beaucamp, who stressed the rankings take care of themselves.
鈥淧eople talk about those kind of things, but you don鈥檛 get to nationals by rankings.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 care if you鈥檙e first or 10th, you have to win your way there. For us, it鈥檚 so early in the year, I don鈥檛 think that makes too much difference. The bottom line is we鈥檙e trying to get better,鈥 added Beaucamp, who said the score flattered his team on Saturday.
sa国际传媒 West top point-getter Thomas Cooper led the way for Calgary with 21, while Lars Schlueter added 19. Grant Sitton and Mack Roth had 18 and 16, respectively for Victoria, which travels to Lethbridge next weekend to face the Pronghorns before the Christmas break kicks in.
In women鈥檚 play, it continues to be close but no cigar for the Vikes, who led 38-37 at the half, but couldn鈥檛 hang on against the Dinos, losing 84-72. Calgary led 54-51 after three quarters.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 give up 80-plus points a game,鈥 said Vikes coach Dani Sinclair.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what it comes down to. The last four games, when the game has been close at the end and we need to get stops, we don鈥檛. We just don鈥檛. That鈥檚 a hump we have to get over.
鈥淲e have to know that it鈥檚 a long season and we do have a young team. We鈥檒l have time to work on these things. We can鈥檛 hang our heads.
鈥淵ou have to become tougher and that鈥檚 a large portion of what defence is.鈥
Claire Colbourne had 28 points for Calgary, which improves to 5-1. Avery Snider, Jenna Bugiardini and Nicole Karstein had 21, 16 and 15 points, respectively, for the now 1-5 Vikes.
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