Victoria outlasts Bishop's in hard-fought battle

A double-double by Renoldo Robinson led the No. 4-seeded Victoria Vikes to an 85-73 win over the No. 5-seeded Bishop's Gaiters in the first quarterfinal of the 2025 INDOCHINO U SPORTS Men's Basketball Final 8 at War Memorial Gym in Vancouver, Thursday. The third year guard from Westmount, Quebec, scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Vikes returned to the national semifinals after a one-year absence.

The Gaiters, who won the RSEQ title last week, opened strongly. They led by as much as 18-4 with four minutes left in the period. After a timeout, Vikes chipped away at the lead and cut the gap to 22-16 after the first quarter. In the second period, the Vikes tied the game at 33-33 and took their first lead on a three-pointer by Robinson with 4:12 left in the half. Victoria stretched their lead to 10 points, 48-38 by halftime, thanks to shooting 75 per cent from the field in the quarter..

In the third quarter, the Gaiters cut into the Victoria lead in the first half of the period, but the VIkes pulled away in the late stages to lead 68-56 after three quarters and carried that through the fourth quarter, denying any chance at a comeback for the Gaiters.

In addition to Robinson's performance, the Vikes got 18 points from Sam Maillet, the U SPORTS defensive player of the year, 15 from Geoffrey James and 14 from Shadynn Said.

Charles Robert, the RSEQ player of the year, led the all scorers with 21 points, while Étienne Gagnon had 14 and Yanis Malanda had 11 in a losing cause for the Gaiters.

UVic will play the winner of the Ottawa-Concordia game on Friday at 6 p.m. (Pacific) in the first national semifinal. Bishop's will take on the loser of that contest in a consolation game on Friday at 11 a.m.