Saturday night in Victoria, the UNBC Timberwolves wrapped up their weekend with a 92-62 loss at the hands of the Victoria Vikes. Diego Maffia paced the Vikes attack with 35 points while Shadynn Smid added 13. Leading the way in response for UNBC was Evgeny Baukin who, in 30 minutes of action, supplied 13 points, two rebounds, a three, and a steal. Justin Sunga and Josh Gillespie both added 11 for Todd Jordan’s club.
After the opening 10, the VIkes held a 20-12 lead. 11 of Victoria’s first quarter points came from Maffia who went five-for-eight while no other Vike secured more than a single first quarter field goal. Baukin answered with six first quarter points for the TWolves while Gillespie opened the game with four points and was two-for-two from the field. After being held off the scoresheet a night ago, Sunga bagged his first two points of the weekend and added a pair of boards. Both teams struggled from beyond the arc in the first as the team’s shot a combined one-for-11 from deep.
The Vikes firepower was on full display in the opening four minutes of the second as they started the quarter on a 16-5 run. Maffia had eight during that span while Ethan Boag added four. The first three UNBC field goals of the quarter came from Isaiah Bias who began the night three-for-three from the field. Baukin later added a triple, Sunga made another field goal and Milan Pasquale converted a difficult ‘And 1’ play as the TWolves eventually rattled off 19 points in the quarter compared to Victoria’s 28. The score at halftime showed 48-31 in favour of the Vikes.
Halfway through the game Maffia had 23 points on nine-of-19 while Shadynn Smid had the nest highest point total with nine. Baukin led all TWolves with nine at the half while Josh Gillespie (7) and Justin Sunga (6) combined for 13. Victoria held a 26-12 rebounding edge through 20 minutes.
The points came fast and furious for both sides to start the third as Victoria outscored UNBC 18-11 through the opening five minutes. Baukin, Sunga, Gillespie and Will Keyes all supplied buckets for the TWolves while Maffia supplied eight of Victoria’s first 18 and had a season-high 31 points on the board with five minutes still remaining in the quarter.
To the Timberwolves’ credit, they never stopped competing. Todd Jordan’s club matched their total offensive output from Friday (48 points) by the seven minute mark of the third quarter on Saturday. The Vikes went on a late surge in the third, which led to a 77-48 lead through 30 minutes.
Two minutes into the fourth, with the quarter scoring at 4-4, and the hosts up by 29, the Vikes pulled their starters from the game. Todd Jordan eventually did the same. Fourth quarter offense came courtesy of Gillespie, Keyes, Sunga, Milan Pasquale, Marcus Wilson, Wesley Ainu’u and a three from Ben White in what ended as a 92-62 win for the Vikes.
Maffia’s 35 points were the clear offensive highlight for the Vikes while Evgeny Baukin’s 13-point effort through 30 minutes of action Saturday helped earn him a Mr. Mike’s Player of the Game honour for UNBC.
With the loss, the TWolves now sit at 0-4 and will look to find the win column for the first time this season on Friday next weekend when they begin a Friday-Saturday double-header in Saskatchewan against the Regina Cougars.