Ali Baggott, Vikes Communications
VICTORIA – The University of Victoria Vikes men's basketball team had five players score in double digits as they put away the visiting MacEwan Griffins 107-64 on Feb. 1 in the CARSA Performance gym. The win lifts the Vikes to 0.500 in the season at 10-10, while the Griffins fall 1-19.
The Vikes had a game-high performance from fifth year Jordan Charles who logged 23 points. Taylor Montgomery-Stinson logged 19 points and five assists, while Mason Loewen, recently returned from injury, came of the bench to add 17 points and seven rebounds. Jake Newman and Jason Scully were also in double digits with 12 and 10 points, respectively. The Vikes were 12-for-28 from distance.
"We just played and prepared the same we always do whether it's the first game or the last game of the year," said Craig Beaucamp, Vikes men's basketball head coach. "We never really talked about who we were playing and records or standings. It's never the same though and MacEwan played hard tonight and we made some shots early on and got ahead and sometimes the games flows from there."
For the Griffins, Abdullah Shittu and Luke Harold each had 11 points, while Jake Notice had 10 points and six boards. The Griffins were held to a shooting percentage of 41 and struggled from beyond the arc going 3-for-17.
"All credit goes to UVic tonight," said Griffins interim head coach Ken Schildorth. "We had some positive moments but we just couldn't come up with enough stops on defence. It is our last game of the season tomorrow so we will continue to focus on elevating our game to a level where we can compete with the best in the conference. We might not be there right now but I am confident we are continuing to head in a positive direction."
Vikes guard Charles came out of the gate with a hot hand putting up six-straight points on route to three baskets from beyond the arc to finish the opening frame with 17 points. The Vikes out-shot the visitors 33-14 with second year Griffin Abdullah Shittu leading his side with five points. Scott Kellum and Taylor Montgomery-Stinson also found some success from beyond the arc as the Vikes enjoyed a shooting percentage of 67 in the opening 10 minutes.
In the second quarter the outside shooting continued as Jake Newman dropped a trey to lift the Vikes 38-17. The fifth year followed that up with a second three-pointer to distance his side by 22, while a pair of baskets by Shittu allowed the Griffins to chip away. That chipping started a momentum swing as the home side edged the Griffins just 23-21 in second-quarter scoring. It was a team effort for the Griffins who had six different scorers contribute to their 21 points. The Vikes led 54-37 at half time.
Quality ball movement lifted the Vikes by 21, after Jason Scully drained back-to-back threes from the same baseline corner. The outside looks kept coming as Scott Kellum fed a long pass to Montgomery-Stinson for a three that lifted the Vikes by their largest lead at the time, up 28 points, 41-69.
The Griffins had lots of opportunities but the ball wouldn't drop as they had just a bucket each from Dustin Gatzki and Shittu through six minutes of play. Atlas St. Paul-Butler turned on Vike Jason Scully and had the third bucket drop for the Griffins with two minutes to go in the quarter but Victoria went on to out-pace MacEwan 30-11 to leave the game 84-48 heading in to the fourth.
Trent Monkman came off the bench in the fourth and put up an impressive eight points as the Vikes cruised to the 107-64 victory with their biggest scoring night of the season so far.
The Vikes and Griffins will rematch tomorrow, Feb. 2, at 7:00 p.m. in CARSA. The game will be webcast live at canadawest.tv while all the graduating seniors will also be recognized including Vikes Jordan Charles, Mason Loewen and Jake Newman. Wrapping up the regular season for the Griffins will be Edmonton native Harrison Lane.
SCORING SUMMARY
GMU: 14-23-11-16 : 64
VIC: 33-21-30-23 : 107
SCORING LEADERS
GMU: Abdullah Shittu (11), Luke Harold (11), Jake Notice (10)
VIC: Jordan Charles (23), Taylor Montgomery-Stinson (19), Mason Loewen (17)
Photo Credit: Full Stroke Photography