SASKATOON – Clutch defence down the stretch of the fourth quarter led the Saskatchewan Huskies to a close, 78-71 victory over the visiting UVic Vikes inside the PAC on Friday, Jan. 10.
 
Leading by three with just over a minute to go the Huskies got three points from JT Robinson as well as a free-throw from Kessler Bishop while simultaneously forcing two turnovers to pull away for the seven-point victory.
 
The win makes the Huskies 3-0 to start the second half of the schedule while they also put a stop to a red-hot Vikes squad whose last loss came on November 15.
 
Robinson led all scorers with 22 points while also forcing three turnovers. Noah Nickel, Kessler Bishop, Emmanuel Akintunde and Alexander Dewar also hit double-digits, scoring 12, 12, 11 and 10 points respectively.
 
The visitors also employed a balanced scoring attack. Jason Scully led the way with 15 while Aaron Tesfagiorgis and Diego Maffia both added 12.
 
Saskatchewan held the lead after a back-and-forth first quarter thanks in large part to Akintunde, who went 4-6 from the field for nine points while also grabbing four rebounds in the opening ten minutes. Maffia kept his squad in it with eight of his own however as the Huskies led 18-16 after the opening frame.
 
That tight scoreline carried over throughout the second quarter as neither team led by more than four in the frame. The Vikes forced five turnovers to help them take 34-32 lead into the break.
 
Both offences came to life in the third quarter. The Huskies shot 45.5 per cent from the floor en route to putting up 25 points while the Vikes got 14 from Scully and Tesfagiorgis combined. A put-back bucket from Maxwell Amoafo with no time left in the quarter gave Saskatchewan a 57-54 lead going into the final ten minutes of play.
 
That lead swung from three to as many as six in the fourth but the Vikes always had an answer, pulling back to within three before Robinson and the defence put the game away.
 
These teams are back in action tomorrow night at the PAC with a scheduled tip of 7 p.m.