LANGLEY, British Columbia – Trinity Western fourth-year forward Josh Bevlin (Long Beach, Calf.) put up 30 points, but it wasn't enough as the Spartans dropped a two-possession game, 93-89, to the No. 1 Victoria Vikes at the David E. Enarson Gym on the campus of TWU Friday night in Langley, B.C. The loss drops the Spartans to1-10 in Canada West play while the victory improves the Vikes to 8-1.
In an all-round game, Belvin added eight rebounds, six assists, and four steals to his totals for the Spartans, while third-year guard David Mutabaze (Delta, B.C.) with 17 points, and eight rebounds, second-year guard
Marcus Shankar (Campbell River, B.C.) with 12 points, third-year centre
Connor Platz (Langley, B.C.) with 12 points, and seven rebounds, and fourth-year guard
Vlad Mihaila (Surrey, B.C.) with 11 points all hit double-digit scoring for the Spartans. Diego Maffia with 20 points, Renoldo Robinson with 18 points, and eight rebounds, and Elias Ralph with 15 points, and six rebounds were double-digit scorers for the Vikes.
AS IT HAPPENED
The majority of the contest was a game of chase for the Spartans. The game started even with the two teams tied at 13-13 with just under five minutes remaining in the opening quarter. But the Vikes outscored the Spartans 15-7 to lead 28-20 after the first 10 minutes of action.
TWU outperformed Victoria over the first six minutes of the second quarter to cut the Vikes lead to one point, 39-38, with an 18-11 run. But again the Vikes took control to lead by 10 points, 52-42 at the end of the first half.
The Spartans rallied again to start the third quarter and with 4:30 remaining had cut the deficit in half to trail by five points, 61-56. Then the Vikes pushed back and took control of the quarter with a 12-5 run to lead by 12 points, 73-61, as they headed into the final 10 minutes.
TWU again slowly chipped away at the Victoria lead and with 2:19 remaining had made it a one-possession game trailing by three points, 85-82. The Spartans continued to push the Vikes and after a Belvin three-point basket had turned the once double-digit deficit into a one-point game, 90-89 with 38 seconds remaining. But a field goal and a late free throw by Victoria's Renoldo Robinson, combined with two missed three-point shots by the Spartans resulted in the Vikes holding on for the four-point, 93-89, win.
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Trevor Pridie
"Great environment, love being at Enarson and have the crowd and old school feeling of TWU hoops. We are in every game against top teams in the Country, but we just can't get the win. It feels like we have missed a couple of opportunities over the past few weekends. We had a bad stretch in the third quarter that really hurt us and probably is what cost us the game. Renoldo made a couple of big-time shots for them at the end of the game. I thought we defended him really well on both of his shots but he is a great player and big-time shot maker.
"Juice (Belvin) had a great game and a really good fourth quarter. Hopefully, we can have the urgency we need tomorrow to get a win and start finding ways to close out games and get wins."
NOTABLE
- TWU finished the night shooting 52.3 percent (34/68) from the field, 33.3 percent (8/24) from the three-point line, and 68.4 percent (13/19) from the foul line. Victoria finished shooting 42 percent (34/81), 32.4 percent (12/37), and 59.1 percent (13/22) respectively.
- The Spartans had a 44-41 edge in rebounding, while the Vikes had an 11-7 edge in steals.
- Last week the Spartans had two road losses to the No. 4 UBC Thunderbirds, 78-70 on Friday, and 98-84 on Saturday.
- Last week Victoria swept the UBC Okanagan Heat winning 101-76 on Friday, and 115-65 on Saturday at home in Victoria.
- The Spartans are 20-48 lifetime against the Vikes.
- The last time the Spartans defeated the Vikes was 71-61 on November 16, 2012. An 18-game losing streak.
UP NEXT
The Spartans and Vikes will finish the two-game series Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The game is set for 6 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on Canadawest.TV.
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country, and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men's rugby. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 14 U SPORTS team championships and 34 Canada West team championships.
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