CIAU Finals
G a m e C o m m e n t a r y
The second quarter-final at this year's CIAU Men's Final 8 pitted two conference champs, both of whom have been playing well of late.
The Western Ontario Mustangs have been ranked in the top 2 in the country all season, and came into the tournament seeded 2nd. The Victoria Vikes had rebounded from a sluggish start to conference play to catch fire, grabbing the regular season Canada West title on the last weekend of league play, and earning the Final 8 berth with a victory over the Alberta Golden Bears.
The 7th seeded Vikes hung tough for most of the contest, but the Mustangs were too strong down the stretch, winning 77-64. The 'Stangs advance to Saturday's second Championship Semi-Final, where they will face the Brandon/St. Mary's winner. Victoria will tip-off with the loser on the consolation side.
Early on, Victoria was able play an effective zone defense, which prevented Western from getting the ball inside. The Mustangs were forced to shoot from the perimeter, and only made 4-15 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes. Despite that, the OUA West and Ontario champs went into the locker room ahead 35-32.
Western was able to more effectively penetrate the zone in the second half, opening things up for their big men inside, 2nd Team All Canadian Andy Kwiatkowski and Chris Brown.
"They play a very tight zone," said Kwiatkowski. "Early on, it gave us trouble, but in the second half we figured it out, and got more easy looks inside." Western didn't stop shooting from the outside, but only Mark Porte had any success. Porte's 5 3's helped to spread the zone, and it resulted in success for Kwiatkowski. His game-high 24 points and 17 rebounds was the big story, in addition to 3 blocks and 3 assists, as the transfer from Simon Fraser was named Western's player-of-the-game.
Porte's 15 points all came from beyond the arc, as the Mustangs were 9-31 from long range on the day.
All Canadian Allister Wilmott paced Victoria with 23 points and 5 assists,
while freshman Chris Trumpy played a great game, adding 12 points.
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