VICTORIA – The University of Victoria Vikes advanced to the quarterfinals following their 88-80 victory over the Brandon University Bobcats on Friday night at the CARSA Performance Gym.

For the Vikes, it was their first Canada West playoff win since 2015.

The last time these two teams locked horns in late November, the Vikes won both by an average of 25 points.

The Bobcats were dealing with a litany of injuries back then. They turned their season around and closed out the regular season with a couple impressive wins and became a daunting 12^th seed.

They played with nothing to lose and came out bombing from the tip. Dominique Dennis led the three-point barrage with a pair in the first quarter. The visitors stunned the home crowd with a 13-0 run in the first quarter highlighted by a pair of thunderous dunks, one from Dennis and another from Haashim Wallace, as he came barreling down the lane.

Anthony Tsegakele showed why he was one of the better freshman in the conference, by battling the Vikes' bigs down low and racked up 10 points on six first half shots. The offence ran through him most of the evening, as the young player from Quebec posted a team high 17 points and eight rebounds.

While the Bobcats were getting it done with flash, the Vikes clawed their way back into it on the strength of their senior big man, Hayden Lejeune.

Lejeune might have dialed up a pair of long jumpers early, but he went back to his bread and butter and bulldozed his way to the rim from the left block to produce 14 points and eight rebounds on nine shots in the first half.

After a quiet opening, Diego Maffia started the third quarter by draining a pair of threes for the Vikes, one from each wing. He also closed the third quarter by taking a pass off his shoelaces and draining a triple from five feet beyond the arc. The local freshman poured in 15 points on 11 shots.

Returning after missing the last two weeks with a lower-body injury, Ellis took cashed in on his size advantage over Tsegakele in the paint. The fourth-year forward backed down the freshman for 10 points in the third quarter. He fouled out with four minutes left in the game tied for the team high with 18 points.

One of Ellis' jumpers came from a result of an incredible battle on the offensive glass by Dominick Oliveri, who was also returning from injury. The Washington product was playing his first game since early December and yanked down nine rebounds.

The back-and-forth third quarter continued, as Dennis' hand remained hot from three-point land, as he canned his fourth triple.

Jaleel Webb was having a strong game for the Bobcats and got his team within one with three minutes remaining with a deep three from the top of the key.

Wallace had a chance to make it a one-score game with a minute left, but missed both his free throws after he went up for a dunk but landed hard on his shooting hand.
 
Lejeune hadn't produced a bucket since his outburst in the first quarter, but his spin move in the lane with 1:20 remaining in regulation gave the Vikes an 83-77 lead.

The Vikes will travel to either Edmonton or Calgary for the quarterfinals.
 
Vikes Head Coach Craig Beaucamp: "We knew it was going to be a back-and-forth game. They're not really a 12 seed. They're very athletic and pressured us all night, but we were ready for it mentally and weren't surprised by their attack. Hats off to Brandon, they played quite well.

"We didn't panic when we were down. We tried to peck away, get a few stops, follow those up with a good offensive possession by getting the ball down low and putting pressure on them. It basically took us all 40 minutes to get a lead.

"The thing that sticks out about having Dom and Matt back was that we won the rebounding battle 50-30. Matt had 18 points and Dom had a grabbed a couple big rebounds for us."

Bobcats Assistant Coach Keith Van Walleghem: "The Vikes are a big team and wore us down with their size. They crashed the offensive boards well and their physicality overcame us. They're a big, strong team that played well tonight.

"I thought Anthony came out tonight with a lot of energy. We asked a lot out of him with our full-court press. He denied the ball well and recovered in time. He rose to the occasion, crashed the boards and overall played really well and showed us that he's going to be a good player for a long time with us.

"In the fourth, their physicality wore us down. We lost our legs from the grinding and the pounding. They also hit some big shots late that we couldn't come back from."