The return to glory motif remained uninterrupted Saturday night. The University of Victoria Vikes, who had so much going for them heading into the sa国际传媒 West men’s basketball playoffs following a 17-1 regular season and a No. 5 ranking in sa国际传媒, followed through in their first playoff game with a 79-55 victory over the Lethbridge Pronghorns in the conference quarter-finals.
The Pronghorns (8-8 in the regular season) were looking to dash those UVic dreams knowing that a single-loss knockout playoff format is good for the underdog because it allows no chance for recovery by the favourite. Lethbridge, which hosted the first-three playoff rounds with Calgary, also had home-court advantage in a city known for its hoops passion and its boisterous fans.
But that didn’t stop UVic from advancing to the conference semifinals in two weeks at the gymnasium of the highest remaining seed, which will be in Edmonton at the home of the conference top-ranked and national No. 2 Alberta Golden Bears.
Graduating UVic point-guard Scott Kellum, who began his fine five-season Vikes tenure as sa国际传媒 West rookie of the year and concludes it as a first-team sa国际传媒 West all-star and perhaps the conference MVP in the honour yet to be announced, led all scorers with 16 points.
Vikes sophomore shooting-guard Diego Maffia, preparing to inherit the backcourt mantle from Kellum and named to the conference all-star second team, added 15 points. Graduating forward Matthew Ellis also added 15 points to assure this would not be his final game in blue and gold. The kids are alright, too, as guard Elias Ralph from Okotoks, Alta., and forward Ethan Boag out of Claremont Secondary were named to the sa国际传媒 West all-rookie team and scored 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The future looks bright, but so may the rest of this month.
The sa国际传媒 West conference had opened the gates to the largest basketball post-season tournament in league history to really put the madness in March with the men’s and women’s teams from all 17 schools qualifying since there was no inter-divisional play due to pandemic travel restrictions during the regular season.
The resultant unwieldiness had the Vikes cooling their high-tops for several days as one of the three top-ranked teams that received rare first- and second-round byes and free passes into the quarter-finals.
The Pronghorns received a first-round bye and beat UBC-Okanagan– upset winners over Manitoba in the first round — in the second round Friday to advance to meet the Vikes.
The UVic Vikes women’s season ended with a 70-58 loss to the University of Calgary Dinos in the sa国际传媒 West playoff round of 16 in Calgary. The ninth-seed Vikes (11-7 in the regular season) trailed the eighth-seed Dinos 15-13 after the first quarter and 28-26 at the break.
The Dinos pushed ahead 49-43 at the end of three quarters and it was still in doubt with six minutes remaining at 58-53 before a spurt down the stretch by Calgary. UVic’s offence couldn’t find its cadence and shot just 29 per cent from the field.
sa国际传媒 West first-team all-star Ashlyn Day led UVic with 24 points. Graduating guard Calli McMillan closed out her Vikes career with 13 points while graduating forward Aleah Ashlee had a team-high four assists in her final game of varsity.
The Dinos advanced to meet the sa国际传媒 West top-ranked and U Sports national No. 2-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies (14-2), coached by 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics Canadian head coach Lisa Thomaidis, in a quarter-final match-up today.
