Box Score

The University of Regina's men's basketball team was defeated 78-54 by No. 5 Victoria on Saturday night in a Canada West game at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

The Vikes (2-0) were led by big fourth-year post Chris McLaughlin's massive double-double. McLaughlin was an efficient 8-for-13 from the field and ended up leading all players in both points (17) and rebounds (15). Fifth-year swingman Terrell Evans also had a double-double, scoring 16 points and adding 10 rebounds for the Vikes in the win. Marcus Tibbs also hit double figures despite getting into foul trouble, ending up with 12 points in 18 minutes on the floor. Mack Roth chipped in with 11 points off the bench.

Jeremy Zver was 4-for-8 from the field and led the Cougars with nine points, while Will Tallman scored eight and added a team-high six rebounds and Matthew Augustine and rookie Brandon Tull both had seven points.

The Vikes led this one from almost wire to wire, as the two teams traded early three-pointers before the Vikes scored a quick eight straight points to take an 11-3 lead before the six-minute mark of the first quarter. The Cougars scored six consecutive points to get back to within five early in the second quarter, but Victoria responded with a big 14-3 run to take control of the contest.

Victoria led by 16 at the half and took an 18-point advantage into the fourth quarter, where they pulled away from the Cougars down the stretch with an 8-0 run capped by an Evans dunk with four minutes left. Mainly due to the efforts of Evans and McLaughlin, the Vikes enjoyed a big advantage on the glass as they outrebounded the U of R by a 38-26 margin. The visitors were also deadly from three-point range, hitting 12 of their 25 attempts led by Tibbs going 4-for-5 from downtown.

The Vikes will now prepare for their home openers against Fraser Valley next weekend, as they'll host a Cascades team that will also come into the two-game set with a 2-0 record after wins over Lethbridge and Calgary to start the Canada West schedule.

The schedule gets no easier for the Cougars. The U of R will travel to Edmonton next weekend for a pair of games against Alberta, which was ranked No. 2 in the first CIS Top Ten of the season released earlier this week.