Hundreds of fans filled the stands at War Memorial Gym for a battle of the top two ranked teams in U SPORTS. Unfortunately for those supporting the home team, it was the Victoria Vikes who came away with a wire-to-wire victory.

Adam Olsen carried the load offensively for UBC, scoring 22 points on 6-10 shooting. Arnaud Konan recorded 11 points and four dimes while Fareed Shittu nearly double-doubled with eight points and nine boards.

Diego Maffia put up 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the visitors, while Shadynn Smid added 17 points, eight boards and three blocks.



UVic started fast with an 8-2 lead. Konan responded with a transition layup for the T-Birds, but the Vikes scored another six in a row to make it 14-4.

The lead grew to as big as 15 points in the opening frame, with UBC battling to stay in it against the offensive onslaught. Olsen paced the Thunderbirds with eight points in the first, but the Vikes dropped 31 points in their highest-scoring quarter of the night to lead 31-19.

Both teams entered a bit of scoring drought in the first few minutes of the second quarter, at least compared to the highs of the first. A layup by Nikola Guzina cut the lead to single digits, but an and-one from Maffia on the other end put it back to a 12-point advantage.

The T-Birds continued to battle hard, and at a couple points seemed like they might be about to rip off a run, but they were stymied by tough defence from the Vikes. Olsen knocked in a triple with less than 10 seconds to go in the half to make it 51-41, but the Vikes hit back with a buzzer-beating three from Geoffrey James to stretch the lead to 13 at the break.



Back-to-back buckets by Konan and Guzina made it 60-50 UVic early in the third, followed by a sweet backdoor feed from Konan to Olsen for a layup. The T-Birds got the lead down to as little as seven, but more hot shooting from Maffia and the rest of the Vikes kept them at bay.

Down 10 entering the fourth, Victor Radocaj opened the final quarter with a dunk that got a roar from the crowd. However, the Vikes responded with a 10-2 run to push the lead out to 16 points, their biggest of the night.

UBC was unable to put together a final push, and the night ended with a score of 93-80 in favour of Victoria.

The two teams will battle it out once again in a rematch Saturday night. Opening tip is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. (PT) at War Memorial Gym.