Friday night in Victoria, the UNBC Timberwolves (0-3) dropped a 102-48 decision to the reigning Conference champion Victoria Vikes (3-0). Renoldo Robison led all scoreres Friday with 18 points for the Vikes while Ethan Boag (17) and Diego Maffia (13) also finished in double digits offensively on a night where 11 different VIkes found the scoresheet. Evgeny Baukin led the way for UNBC with 15 points on six-of-11 shooting while Josh Gillespie (10) and Will Keyes (8) combined for 18 rebounds.
At the end of the first quarter, Victoria held a 28-10 lead on the strength of nine points from Diego Maffia. The reigning Player of the Year in Canada West had nine of the first 17 points in the quarter for Victoria while five additional Vikes players secured buckets. Evgeny Baukin shot a tidy three-of-four for UNBC in response to lead his team with six first quarter points along with two rebounds and two blocks.
UNBC went on a 12-9 run to start the second quarter as Baukin recorded five more points in the opening three minutes and change. Chris Ainsley added a triple and Isaiah Bias and Will Keyes found the scoresheet as well for Todd Jordan’s crew. On the Victoria side, Maffia recorded his third foul of the game and was forced to the bench just over two minutes into the second. But Boag picked up the offensive slack for his teammate, posting nine of Victoria’s first 11 points of the quarter while Griffin Arnatt chimed in with a layup.
After both teams went cold in the middle minutes of the second, Robinson got hot towards the end of the second quarter for Victoria. The third-year guard from Montreal posted 11 unanswered points, turning a 39-24 score into a 50-24 advantage for the hosts. He led all scorers at half with 15 points on five-of-eight shooting as Victoria led 52-24 halfway through. For UNBC Baukin had 11 points on five-of-six while Josh Gillespie had a team-high four rebounds.
Boge recorded five of Victoria’s first 10 of the third en route to an early 10-2 run. Back-to-back layups from Ainsley though momentarily halted the Vikes momentum. Further free throws from Baukin and a layup from Wesley Ainu’u helped UNBC to an 8-0 run of their own, before Robinson hit his third three of the night for the hosts. A dunk from Sergio Pereira and a triple from Ryan Gallagher followed as the Vikes increased their lead to 70-34.
A trio of threes from Victoria early in the fourth helped stake them to a 9-2 run in a quarter where they would ultimately outscore UNBC 31-12. Victoria connected on seven triples in the final 10 minutes as most of the starters for both sides did not see much of the court in the final period. One UNBC starter who played a majority of the final quarter was Josh Gillespie who still, despite a tough night all around for UNBC finished with a team-leading 29 minutes played, 10 rebounds, and three assists. The Idaho product added five points, a block and a steal to his totals en route to a Mr. Mike’s Player of the Game honour.
The final score Friday showed 102-48 for Victoria who improved their season record to 3-0 while UNBC falls to 0-3. The two sides will meet again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. on the Island.