Ali Baggott, Vikes Communications
VICTORIA – The University of Victoria Vikes men's basketball team saw 17 three-pointers drop as they cruised past the visiting Trinity Western Spartans, 96-66, on Nov. 23 at the CARSA Performance Gym. The Vikes improve to 3-6 in the season, while the Spartans fall to 0-9.
The Vikes put up ridiculous outside shooting throughout the entire game as 10 different Vikes got on the scoreboard. Taylor Montgomery-Stinson saw four perimeter shots fall to finish with 16 points, while fifth-year veteran Jordan Charles had a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Jason Scully, Scott Kellum and Charles each had three treys as the Vikes were 17-for-30 from beyond the arc. Kellum finished with 15 points, while Loewen had 12 and Scully tallied 11.
"If you look at the last 10 games we are playing 10 deep," described Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp. "That wasn't different tonight other than some guys played a little bit more than they have been but we feel that that is the strength of our team right now."
The Spartans were led in scoring by fifth year Vartan Tanielian who had 18 points, while Jack Nadelhoffer had 14 points and 12 rebounds for his team's only double-double.
"We have to follow our game play if we want to come away with a win tomorrow," said Spartans head coach Aaron Muhic. "We got away from our systems too early tonight. UVic shot the ball very well tonight but we didn't do a good enough job defending the three-point line and we need sustain our concentration throughout the game."
The opening half saw the Vikes out-score the Spartans 25-18 and 20-12 in the first two frames. Nine three pointers on 15 attempts fell for the home side including Montgomery-Stinson dropping four-of-five from beyond the arc. Five different players hit a three as the Vikes enjoyed a 45-30 lead at the break. Fifth-year Spartans forward Fartan Tanielian scored a team-high 10 points by half time.
In the third quarter the Vikes saw the three pointers continue to fall as Jason Scully, Jordan Charles, Mason Loewen and Scott Kellum were finding the net from distance to enjoy a double-digit scoring stat before the quarter was over.
In the fourth Kellum hit a long-bomb three that brought the Vikes' three-pointer total to 15 and bringing the game to 80-50. A spirited effort from Nadelhoffer and Tanielian continued to keep the Spartans running but turnovers haunted them. Vikes newcomer Rohtash Matthu came off the bench hit an uncontested three to make the game 96-66 and the sealed the victory for the home side.
"Tonight we had a positive result and really the theme for this weekend is to get two consistent results," said Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp. "So really tonight was step one and now we want to forget about tonight and focus on tomorrow."
The Vikes and Spartans will clash again tomorrow, Nov. 24, at 7:00 p.m. at the CARSA Performance Gym. The game will be live on pay-per-view webcast atcanadawest.tv.
SCORING SUMMARY
TWU: 18-12-13-23 : 66
VIC: 25-20-32-19 : 96
SCORING LEADERS
TWU: Vartan Tanielian (18), Jack Nadelhoffer (14), Josiah Allison (10)
VIC: Jordan Charles (17), Taylor Montgomery-Stinson (16), Scott Kellum (15)