EDMONTON - The Victoria Vikes have captured their 15th Canada West championship with a 70-64 victory over the host Alberta Golden Bears in a wire-to-wire battle.
It was an uncharacteristic defensive battle between the top two scoring offences in the conference. The Vikes handed the Golden Bears their first loss of the 2021-22 campaign with the victory.
Vikes captain and CW first-teamer Scott Kellum led all scorers with 20 points. For him, the defensive effort was not a surprise.
"All the work we put in during the offseason built the trust we have in each other. We knew a couple of shots weren't going to fall, but we knew we were going to get our stops on defence until the shots would fall in."
They held the Bears to a season-low 35.3 field goal percentage, including a 6/26 night from three. But Alberta was solid in the inverse, holding the Vikes to a near-equal 35.9 percent mark.
It was a raucous crowd in the Saville Centre main gym in easily the loudest atmosphere seen in the Bears home this season. The Vikes were prepared for it, however, and Kellum notes that they even relished it.
"We came in and we were excited to play, this atmosphere whether for or against you is fun to play in. We knew we would have to rely on our defence tonight and that the offence would come after."
2021-22 CW Player of the Year Tyus Jefferson was the cog for the Bears, scoring a team high 13 points and shot 60% from the field.
The first quarter was defined by a series of runs. Alberta quickly jumped out to a 9-2 lead thanks to Jefferson making three straight field goals. It would not last, however, as the Vikes would respond later in the quarter with an 8-0 run to go up 18-15 spurred on by a complete depth scoring effort; eight of the nine Vikes to see the floor in the quarter scored at least two points. Riding off of the dominant run the Vikes would exit the first up 18-15.
Both squads would struggle to get anything going in the second, owing to a ramped up defensive effort that saw no shot uncontested. It was here that we were able to see the defensive capabilities of these two offensively dominant squads. The score creeped upwards until a minute remained in the quarter when Bears guard Geoffrey James had a five-point explosion over the course of two possessions; an open three and then a rim-rattling dunk that brought the decibels up in the Saville Centre. The Bears would maintain the lead into the half, 28-26.
The third would see the defensive intensity maintained after the break, but the Vikes were able to piece together a nice scoring run to get back on top. And while veterans Jefferson, James, and Cole Knudsen would piece together scoring possessions to keep Alberta in the game, it was Victoria who started to grab control of momentum. The play of Kellum and all-rookie guard Elias Ralph was instrumental in the Vikes 52-44 lead at the end of the quarter.
The fourth truly lived up to a CW championship calibre. At the five minute mark the margin had not moved an inch, with both squads trading baskets. The Vikes Matthew Ellis and the Bears Adam Paige battled on many possessions, including a sequence where they matched up three times in a row with the Vikes letting Ellis play iso-ball on the third-year Alberta forward. He finished the quarter with eight points.
For the first time really this season, the Bears looked flustered in what was a truly impressive defensive effort from Victoria.
With thirty seconds remaining, and against a driving Lars Ishimwe who was money in the paint this season, Vikes guard Aaron Tesfagiorgis made the defensive play of the game; a charge which would ensure a seven point lead would not be relinquished.
Both teams will return to action on Friday, April 1st when the U SPORTS Final Eight opens play back at the Saville Centre.
