Courtesy of host organizing committee / Photo credit Valerie Wutti
OTTAWA (CIS) – The fourth-seeded University of Victoria Vikes pursuit of their potential record-tying ninth national title is still alive as they eliminated the No. 5 McGill University Redmen by a score of 63-54 in the third quarter-final of the ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS men’s basketball Final 8, Friday evening at the Canadian Tire Centre.
It was an expectedly low-scoring affair between two of the nation’s best defensive teams. The Vikes boasted the best defence in CIS this season allowing only 60.2 points per game. It wasn’t any easier to score on the RSEQ-champion Redmen, who ranked third, averaging 62.3 points against per contest.
“The biggest thing is when we’re good defensively we give ourselves a chance. I thought for the most part tonight we were good on the defensive side,” said Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp.
The game opened with strong defence from both teams and neither squad was able to find an offensive groove. The Redmen led after the first quarter by a score of 20-15.
“Once we figured it out after the first quarter, once we got more sound on defence it kinda came back naturally to us,” said Vikes fourth-year centre Chris McLaughlin, who was named game MVP for UVic thanks to his 16 points and seven rebounds.
Terrell Evans, a first-team all-Canadian this season, paced the winners with a 19-point, 11-board double-double.
The offensive struggles continued into the second stanza as it took almost two minutes before Evans finally took a steal down the court for a layup.
The Vikes took a 35-29 lead into the half, limiting the Redmen to only nine points in the second frame.
The defensive dominance continued after halftime. It took three minutes before McLaughlin sank the second of two free throws for the first point of the third.
The Vikes edged the Redmen 9-4 in the frame, including a seven-minute span where McGill failed to score.
The offence picked up again in the fourth with McGill edging the Vikes in the final frame 21-19.
“That’s a very good defensive team, probably the best defensive team we’ve seen all year,” said McGill head coach David DeAveiro. “We knew it would be a tough time.”
“I think we just ground it out,” said Beaucamp. “I thought we had some bad offense and shot early threes and didn’t get stops, but then we played good defensively and that transitioned us to some easy baskets at the other end.”
Freshman forward Francois Bourque led all Redmen with 14 points and eight rebounds.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well today and a big part of our offense is shooting the ball,” DeAveiro said.
With the victory, the Vikes advance to Saturday’s late semifinal at 8 p.m. – live on Sportsnet 360 - and will face the winner of the last quarterfinal between the No.1 Ottawa Gee-Gees and the No.8 Saskatchewan Huskies.
McGill will play the losers at 2:30 p.m. in consolation action.
STAT LEADERS
McG: 20-9-4-21: 54
VIC: 15-20-9-19: 63
Victoria
Points: Terrell Evans (19), Chris McLaughlin (16), Marcus
Tibbs (15)
Rebounds: Terrell Evans (11), Chris McLaughlin (7)
Assists: Marcus Tibbs (4)
Player of the game: Chris McLaughlin
McGill
Points: François Bourque (14), Simon Bibeau
(12)
Rebounds: François Bourque (8), Vincent Dufort (7)
Assists: Vincent Dufort (5)
Player of the game: Simon Bibeau
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE (all times EASTERN TIME)
Friday, March 7
12:30 Quarter-final 1: Alberta 72, Saint Mary’s
62
14:30 Quarter-final 2: Carleton 82, McMaster 64
17:30 Quarter-final 3: Victoria 63, McGill 54
20:00 Quarter-final 4: No. 8 Saskatchewan vs. No. 1 Ottawa (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
Saturday, March 8
12:30 Consolation 1: No. 6 Saint Mary’s vs. No. 7
McMaster (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
14:30 Consolation 2: No. 5 McGill vs. Loser QF 4 (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
18:00 Semifinal 1: No. 3 Alberta vs. No. 2 Carleton (Sportsnet 360
/ www.CIS-SIC.tv *)
20:00 Semifinal 2: No. 4 Victoria vs. Winner QF 4 (Sportsnet 360 /
www.CIS-SIC.tv *)
Sunday, March 9
10:30 Bronze (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
14:00 Final (Sportsnet / www.CIS-SIC.tv *)
* The webcast of all 3 televised games (semifinals & final) will be on pay-per-view basis.
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, 11,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 55 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on:
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