The players on the court Saturday night were not even glimmers in their parents’ eyes when the University of Victoria Vikes and University of Brandon Bobcats won every national men’s basketball championship of the 1980s. It might as well have been the 1880s to current players.
“I do know that UVic and Brandon were going back and forth back then,” countered Vikes forward Elias Ralph, lest anyone accuse Gen Zs of thinking history began in the 2000s.
But it’s time for a new generation to write its own story and that’s what it continued doing as the U Sports nationally second-ranked Vikes defeated the Bobcats 81-67 on Ken and Kathy Shields Court at CARSA Gymnasium.
“This was a good test for us,” said Ralph, of beating the gritty Bobcats (12-8 in conference). “We stayed focused.”
Ralph’s 22 points were second for UVic on the night behind Diego Maffia’s 28, with Renaldo Robinson adding 16.
“We are the deepest team in the league,” said Ralph, a standout stretch player who confounds defences.
That means if defending sa国际传媒 West MVP and U Sports scoring champion Maffia isn’t applying the dagger, guys like Ralph and Robinson are. It is that kind of support that allows Maffia to do what he does, despite that other teams key on him relentlessly. Maffia felt he took a mugging Saturday night and looked over several times at the referees in disbelief when foul calls weren’t coming.
“When I get mad, I play better,” said Maffia.
That was bad news for the Bobcats.
“They are a tough team but we punched back,” said Maffia.
The Bobcats are one of the shortest teams in sa国际传媒 West, but the best three-point shooting squad in the league as Sultan Haider Bhatti put up 22 points and Khari Ojeda-Harvey 20.
“It was a fun atmosphere with this crowd,” said Maffia.
UVic defeated Brandon 97-81 on Friday night as Maffia put up 29 points, Ralph 21 and Robinson 17 as UVic swept the two-game set to move to 13-3 in conference.
“This week was all for Guy MacPherson,” Maffia said of the former UVic Vikes radio broadcaster who died on Tuesday.
Although the two were from separate eras, Maffia got to know MacPherson, who kept close tabs on UVic and Oak Bay High basketball. “We battled hard this weekend thinking of Guy,” said Maffia.
UVic defeated Brandon 87-40 earlier Saturday evening to sweep their two-game sa国际传媒 West women’s set as Abigail Becker scored 21 points, Tegan MacKinnon 15, Sierra Reisig 13 and Tana Pankratz 12. The Vikes moved to 6-10 and the last-place Bobcats fell to 1-17.
The Vikes teams are at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton next Friday and Saturday to play their Griffins counterparts before returning to CARSA Gym to meet the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack squads on Feb. 14-15.
