Vikes regain top spot in U Sports men’s hoops poll

The University of Victoria Vikes moved up one spot and regained the No. 1 ranking in this week’s U Sports national men’s basketball poll.

The Vikes were top-ranked two weeks ago before falling to No. 2 last week. Last week’s top-ranked University of Ottawa Gee Gees slipped two spots to No. 3. The Carleton Ravens, also from the nation’s capital, moved up one slot to No. 2.

Ontario teams, No. 4 Queen’s Golden Gaels and No. 5 Brock Badgers, round out the top five. Joining UVic as the teams ranked from Canada West are the Alberta Golden Bears at No. 6, Manitoba Bisons at No. 8, UBC Thunderbirds at No. 9 and Winnipeg Wesmen at No. 10.

The Vikes take their 14-2 conference record into Kelowna tonight and Saturday for Canada West games against UBC-Okanagan (5-13).

The Vikes are coming off a road sweep against the Thompson Rivers WolfPack (5-11) last weekend in Kamloops.

The Vikes play their fifth consecutive road game next Thursday at War Memorial Gym in Vancouver against the UBC Thunderbirds (11-5) before closing out the regular season at home Feb. 11 against the Thunderbirds.

UVic shooting-guard Diego Maffia leads Canada West in scoring with a 23.7 points-pergame average.

The UVic Vikes (7-9) tip-off against UBC-Okanagan (9-9) in Canada West women’s basketball play tonight and Saturday in Kelowna.

The UVic women’s team also closes out the regular-season next week with a home-andhome set against the UBC Thunderbirds (10-6).

Defending Canada West scoring-champion Ashlyn Day of UVic is third in conference scoring this season with a 19.4 points-per-game average.