Quebec City, QC – This era of Victoria Vikes basketball is an era of what might have been at the U SPORTS national level.
Led for the last three years by newly crowned 2024 National Player of the Year Diego Maffia, the Vikes have entered the U SPORTS Men’s Final eight as a top-two seed three times. Yet they have played in just one semifinal game, losing to the #4 seed StFX X-Men in 2023.
Last night the Vikes had visions of an easy path to the final, starting with a quarterfinal matchup against the 6-10 host Laval Rouge et Or, but they wilted under the pressure of the raucous Quebec City crowd falling 75-69.
On Saturday, the Vikes got one back, though, taking down the Brock Badgers with relative ease 71-61 in the consolation semifinal.
After the heartbreak of their loss a night ago, it was not a game the Vikes wanted to play in but their coach had a message for them.
“I just told those guys you’ve got one, maybe two more opportunities, so make the most of it,” Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp said. “There’s no sense being ho-hum and glum, we’ve lost it’s over so let’s enjoy what’s left of the experience.”
With a much quieter crowd inside the Amphithéâtre Desjardins the Vikes and Badgers tipped off just after 3pm and it was a much more confident Vikes team on the court.
Led by seven points including a pair of threes from Diego Maffia the Vikes jumped out to a 23-14 lead after the first quarter and stretched that lead out to as much as seventeen in the second quarter before taking a 43-31 lead into halftime.
Their coach was impressed by the Vikes performance compared to the night before but also hesitated to draw a lot of conclusions from it
“I thought we moved the ball better, that was probably the big thing early on,” Beaucamp said. “But it’s a different game, different atmosphere, so it’s hard to really compare the two.”
Led by Maffia, who continued to fire away from deep, the Vikes stretched their lead to 63-41 after three quarters. Maffia had a fascinating game statistically. Altogether he went 8/22 for 25 points on a 36% rate from the field which is not great but went 8/20 from three which is good.
The Badger slowly chipped away as Victoria struggled to hit from outside going 2/12 in the fourth but the Badgers were never able to get enough back ultimately falling 71-61.
For the Badgers their tournament is done with a quiet showing, the 2024 OUA Finalist losing with relative in both of their games, not dissimilar to their experience being upset as the #1 seed and finishing 7th at the 2022 U SPORTS Men’s Final 8 in Edmonton.
The Vikes on the other hand move on to play on Sunday for the third straight year, and with a lot of their core set to return next season they know this is not the end.
“Obviously we’ve been here a couple of times as a top seed and haven’t got it done,” Beaucamp said “The window is still open for these guys so we want to take advantage of every opportunity.”
“We’ve gotta play in the game. Nobody wants to be in it, but if you’re gonna be in it, you might as well try and win it.”