MBB LOSE FINAL HOME GAME TO VIKES

(Greg Stewart Dominates under the Hoop)

For Immediate Release: January 24, 2009

Kamloops BC: There were some flashes of excitement. But unfortunately the same result as the home portion of the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack Men's Basketball season came to a close at the Tournament Capital Center. The WolfPack closed out the 2008-09 Canada West home season with a 91-61 defeat at the hands of the University of Victoria Vikes. The Vikes move to 14 and 5 on the season as they hold onto second spot in the Pacific. TRU drops to 2 and 17 as they lose their 13 th straight contest.

"I was pleased with our teams effort, " said WolfPack coach Thom Gillespie. "Not with the result, but I thought we put in more of an effort. We need to stop turning the ball over three or four times after we have a good four or five minutes we seem to stop our own momentum. Once we are able to do that, we'll be able to compete at a high level. We gave our opponents the ball 27 times."

"The Score wasn't reflective of the game, thought Vikes bench boss Craig Beaucamp. " I thought we played harder but we needed to because we had to. Stewart (WolfPack Post, Greg, 3rd year, Kamloops, BC) was a handful. We didn't have an answer for him. He changes the game at both ends: he blocks shots at the defensive end and tip in's on offense."
Stewart had a career night with 19 points and 17 rebounds: ten of them at the defensive end.

Victoria was led by Mitch Gudgeon (5th year, forward, Victoria, BC) had 23 points. He was one of four Vikes players in double figures. Ryan MacKinnon (2nd year, guard, Comox, BC) had 14 points while Jeff Spoor (guard, 3rd year, Saanichton, BC) contributed 13 points.

TRU got 20 points from 4 th year forward Jeff Friesen (Duncan, BC).

The Vikes were up 43-28 at the half.

Victoria will return home to host Calgary and Lethbridge (Jan 29-30). TRU visits Alberta and Saskatchewan.