Hildebrandt steals the show vs. Vikes

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This article was published 19/01/2024 (973 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The No. 2-ranked University of Victoria Vikes took the court without the best player in the country Friday night and it almost didn’t matter.

Playing without ace guard Diego Maffia, who had been sidelined with a lower-body injury, the Vikes rallied all the way back from a 19-point second-half deficit to tie the game 79-79 with 56 seconds left before losing a 83-79 decision to the sixth-ranked Manitoba Bisons in Canada West men’s basketball action at Investors Group Athletic Centre.

On this night, Manitoba forward Simon Hildebrandt was the star of the show, scoring a career-high 41 points built on a eight-for-nine night of three-point shooting. He also added five rebounds.

Hildebrandt iced the game in the final minute with a field goal and two free throws. His final tally was two points shy of the single-game program record of 43 points, established by Bisons great Rick Watts in 1976.

“They’re a great team,” said Hildebrandt, whose team will face the Vikes again Saturday at 7 p.m. “We knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park just because they didn’t have their best player.”

Daren Watts added 10 points for the winners, who improved to 11-4 in conference play. Reserve guard Brandt Lenz had eight points and seven assists.

Renoldo Robinson led the Vikes, who fell to 8-3, with 26 points while Elias Ralph added 20 more.

Bisons head coach Kirby Schepp was asked if he felt confident with an 11-point lead at halftime.

“No, of course not,” said Schepp. “We were playing one of the best teams in the country — they weren’t packing it in. (Vikes) coach (Craig) Beaucamp, in my opinion, is one of the best if not the best coach in the country. There was no way they were packing it in. I knew what’s gonna happen there.”

Victoria had a 22-8 edge in offensive rebounds.

“We’ve got to change that — everybody, myself included,” said Hildebrandt. “I’ve gotta be better — they killed us on the glass today. We’ve got to be better in that that aspect of the game.”

Added Schepp: “They started getting the desperation energy (in the second half) and we sort of dropped a bit right and it really hurt us on the offensive glass. Twenty-two offensive rebounds is a dominant rebounding performance for them and we have to solve that problem by (Saturday).”

Earlier, the Manitoba women got off to a hot start, leading 21-15, 35-29 and 58-46 at the quarter breaks en route to a 76-61 triumph over Victoria.

It was a crucial win for the Bisons, who improved to 4-11 to slide past 3-8 Vikes into 10th place in the conference.

The idle Winnipeg Wesmen are 3-11 and hold down the 12th and final playoff berth.

“I’d say any victory for us is super satisfying,” said fourth-year Bisons forward Emmerson Martin, who scored 17 points on seven-for-12 shooting including a three-for-seven performance from behind the three-point line. “We’re trying to secure a playoff spot. We need wins and wins and wins.”

The conference championship tournament will be hosted by the University of Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, B.C., Feb. 21-25.

Point guard Lauren Bartlett added 17 points for the winners, with Emily Johnson (13) and Emily Mandamin (11) also reaching double figures. Bartlett also had a game-high 11 assists. Johnson chipped in with five rebounds before fouling out with 2:41 remaining.

Tana Pankratz had a game-high 23 points for the visitors, who also got 16 points from Abigail Becker.

“They’re really big so we really all week focused on defence in the paint,” said Martin. “And I think we all executed really well. I’m guarding some of their biggest players out there and they’re bigger than me so it was nice on help side, all my teammates helping me and encouraging me throughout the game. It was a team effort.”

The teams meet again Saturday at 5 p.m.

“I think we need to clean up our press break a little bit,” added Martin. “At the end, they came at Lauren with a lot of pressure. We need to clean that up and then just keep fighting in the paint. I think in the second quarter we weren’t as physical in the paint with them and they got some easy scores off of that.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca