KAMLOOPS – A close game early turned into anything but late, as the Thompson Rivers WolfPack men's basketball team was defeated by the conference-leading UVic Vikes 96-59 inside the TCC.
 
Entering the game ranked second in the U SPORTS Top 10, the reigning Canada West champion Vikes performed as advertised. UVic snagged 53 rebounds to TRU's 29 and hit just under 50 per cent of their shots as a team.
 
League-leading scorer Diego Maffia poured in 22 points while going 9-14 from the floor. Izzy Helman was on fire from long-range with 20 points on 5-6 shooting from beyond-the-arc. Ethan Boag and Renoldo Robinson also hit double-digits with 14 and 12 points apiece.
 
Asher Mayan was once again the leading scorer for TRU with 18 points and five rebounds. Daniel Bost chipped in with ten points for a WolfPack team that struggled to find their scoring touch after the first quarter.
 
The WolfPack came out of the gates hot. They were threatening the upset early after jumping out to a five-point lead when Mayan made the score 13-5 halfway through the opening frame. UVic found their feet late in the quarter however, the Vikes scored the final eight points of the frame to snag a 25-19 lead.
 
The visitors never looked back after taking that advantage, tallying 71 points to TRU's 40 throughout the rest of the game to run away with the victory.
 
These teams will be back in action tomorrow night in the TCC for a game that gets underway at 7:30 p.m.