Braedan Willis, Vikes Communications

VICTORIA – The University of Victoria men's basketball team will head into the Canada West playoff next weekend on a high after recording two straight wins over the MacEwan University Griffins this weekend at the CARSA Performance Gym in Victoria. The Vikes took down MacEwan by a score of 84-60 on Saturday Feb. 2 after a dominating victory the previous night.

The Vikes conclude their regular season schedule with a record of 9-11 and will play in the single game play-in round of the Canada West playoffs next weekend.

"We still have a job ahead of us," said fifth-year Vike Jordan Charles. "I have been lucky to be part of such an historic program here at UVic, play with so many great players and just to grow so much as a person, but we still have a big push coming up for the team next week."

The MacEwan Griffins finish their season with a 1-19 record and will miss the playoffs. MacEwan was led my Jake Notice and Abdullah Shittu who each recorded 11 points in the game.

"I was so proud of the effort that this group of men put out there tonight," commented Griffins intern head coach Ken Schildroth. "We understood coming into tonight that it would be our last game of the year and we still came up with a real positive performance. There is still room to grow for this group but our execution was much better than yesterday."

For the second-straight night the Vikes came storming out of the gate. Led by third-year Scott Kellum who posted 10 points, Victoria finished the first quarter leading the Griffins by a score of 27-15. Tight defensive play from Victoria held MacEwan to just six points in the second quarter giving the Vikes a 43-21 lead at the halftime break. Shittu and Alex Jap were tied for the Griffins lead in scoring through two quarters, each posting six points. 

Despite being down 22 points heading into the third quarter, the Griffins didn't stop pushing the pace. Led by the third-year Notice, MacEwan outscored the Vikes in the third frame 22-20 but still trailed in 63-43 heading into the final quarter. The game finished with the final score reading 84-60 in favour of the Vikes.

The Vikes will travel to Lethbridge next week for the single game play-in round of the Canada West play offs against the Pronghorns on Friday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. pacific time. 

SCORING SUMMARY
                  1          2          3         4:         F         
VIC:         27        16        20       21:       84
GMU:      15        6        22        17:       60
 
SCORING LEADERS

VIC:  Jordan Charles (18), Mason Loewen (18), Scott Kellum (17)

GMU:  Jake Notice (11), Abdullah Shittu (11), Dustin Gatzki (9)