After being benched for a season due to COVID, the UVic Vikes men’s basketball team has bounced back in style.
The Vikes have been on a roll as of late, putting together one of their best records in recent memory.
“We knew we had a pretty good group, the core of this group was together two years ago when we went 15 and 5,” says Vikes coach Craig Beaucamp.
“This has just all felt like one big season the past two years preparing for these next coming weeks,” adds Vikes forward Dominick Oliveri.
“So we definitely had that goal in mind, but our approach has definitely been taking it one game at a time throughout the whole year.”
Riding a wave of momentum the team managed to defeat the University of Lethbridge to reach the Canada West Final Four tournament in Edmonton.
“Lethbridge is always tough no matter where they are in the standings….to be able to go into a hostile environment and get a win was gratifying,” says Beaucamp.
For fifth year players like Matthew Ellis the final four berth is the cherry on top of their university playing career.
“I’m just glad I got to stick around and get another year kind of just to enjoy these days in college and just embrace our opportunity we have this year to really have a shot of winning it all,” says Ellis.
“To finish in a COVID year I think was a tough pill to swallow for a lot of athletes both north and south of the border,” says Beaucamp.
“So I think they just really wanted to finish it off the right way so I’m just happy for them for one thing.”
The Vikes take to the court Mar. 18 in semi-final action against the Regina Cougars.
Cole Sorenson
