VICTORIA – The reigning Canada West Champions and preseason No. 1 University of Victoria men's basketball team defeated the University of Calgary, 122-87, in the teams' season-openers Friday night at CARSA Performance Gym.

Victoria starts the season 1-0 and was led by a 34-point performance from Diego Maffia. Last year's conference player of the year connected on a game-high four three-pointers as the Vikes hit 15 from behind the arc in all in a red-hot start to the season.

Calgary goes to 0-1 to start the year, finishing the night with four players in double-digit scoring figures with Nate Petrone leading all with 19.

The Vikes were the first to put points on the board via an Izzy Helman three. After trading baskets, Petrone used a layup to bring the Dinos back within one, 5-4, with nine minutes to go in the first quarter. Griffin Arnatt would add a layup to stretch Victoria's lead to 25-17 before the quarter ended with a score of 31-26 in favour of the Vikes.

Six points by Elias Ralph gave the Vikes a run to open the second quarter, while a layup from Maffia pushed the home team's lead to 39-26 with just under eight minutes until halftime. Jeffrey Tezo and Javier Ramos-Yzquierdo attempted to cut down the deficit with a quick five-point run, bringing the score to 55-43 with two minutes to play. A floater from Ethan Boag as the buzzer sounded brought the score to 63-47 in favour of the Vikes at the half.

A three from Helman and jumper by Ralph put the Vikes on a quick 5-0 run to push UVic's lead back to 20, 73-53, with just over six minutes to play in the third, before the Vikes would stretch the lead to 88-61 after 30 minutes of play.

Victoria outscored Calgary 34-26 in the final quarter to come away with a 122-87 win.

The Vikes and Dinos face off for a second time Saturday evening at 8 p.m. MT  

-UC-