Abbotsford, BC –
Matthias Klim recorded his 73
rd career Canada West block for the UFV Cascades to set a new program high, but it came in a losing effort as the Cascades fell 98-77 to the USPORTS top-ranked Victoria Vikes on Friday at the UFV Athletic Centre.
The Loss sees the Cascades record fall to 3-4 on the season, while the Vikes stay undefeated at 7-0.
How it happened:
The teams went shot for shot in the opening quarter, with Victoria's Ethan Boag, and UFV's
Dario Lopez each scoring eight points. With the score level at 18 and 1:14 on the clock for the opening frame, Klim found his record setting block on Aaron Tesfagiorgis in highlight reel fashion.
A late three from Renoldo Robinson gave Victoria a three-point advantage, but seven second quarter points from
Takeshi Croke, and eight from
Clay Kurtz allowed UFV to stay step for step with the nation's top team and that three point margin carried into the halftime break.
Victoria came out energized and took control of the game in the third. The visitors outscored the Cascades 31-9 in the period to make it a 25-point lead going into the final 10 minutes.
The Vikes increased that lead to as many as 30, but UFV pushed back with a pair of
Arpan Singh triples cutting the margin to just 21 at the final buzzer.
Notable:
Klim's block moves him to 73 on his career, one more that former Cascade Sukhman Sandhu for the top spot in program history.
Dario Lopez led the Cascades with 20 points on the night, while
Takeshi Croke notched 13 points, 10 assists, and six rebounds.
Ismael Hernandez added 13 points five boards and three steals in the effort.
Ethan Boag scored a game-high 23 points for the Vikes, while Diego Maffia added 16 points eight assists, and seven rebounds.
Quotable:
Cascades head coach
Joe Enevoldson
"We had some major mental lapses and mistakes in that third quarter, but it's an even ball game the rest of the way. In fact we even outscored them in the three other quarters by two. – Overall, I thought we played tough against the number one team in the country for 31 or 32 minutes, but we have to be better in those other minutes."
On Klim setting the record
"Matty has been fantastic. We have seen tremendous growth from him from the time he was a freshman to now. He offers great rim protection, as evidenced by his 12-block performance against Saskatchewan, where he set the USPORTS record. Obviously, he still has another year to really put some distance between himself and Sukhman, and I want to see continued growth. Whenever you have a guy that blocks shots at that level it changes the game when he plays physical."
Up next:
The two teams meet up once again on Saturday afternoon in Abbotsford, with tip off scheduled for 5pm live on Canada West TV.
You can keep up with all the action at gocascades.ca, or by following the UFV Cascades on social media at @ufvcascades
