Royal Flush
VIU earns two home victories and sweeps the season series with Douglas College
NANAIMO - The Mariners won a lot of games in 2023 and have kept things rolling to kick off 2024 as the Mariners won two matchups with the Douglas College Royals at the VIU Gym.
JANUARY 12: VIU 78 - Douglas 53
VIU's defence was on point from the beginning of the game, holding Douglas College to 16 first-half points on the way to a 25-point win.
Point guard Ryan Bastian led the charge for the Mariners early on with a dynamite first quarter. He picked up 7 points on 3-4 shooting along with a rebound, an assist, and a block in only 8 minutes. Jakob Poulton added 12 points in the second quarter to stretch the VIU lead to 43-16 at half time.
The Royals played the Mariners fairly evenly throughout the second half; final rebounding numbers were equal at 43-43. Howver, after connecting on only 4 of 40 shots in the first half, the Royals were too far down to make a full comeback.
Poulton led the Mariners with 16 points on 6 of 18 shooting while Kai Leighton narrowly missed a double-double (9 points, 12 rebounds.)
Jeevan Sidhu was the only Royal to score in double-digits with 18 points and he went 4-9 from beyond the arc.
JANUARY 13: VIU 90 - Douglas 66
VIU guard Peter Li (#7) fights for the ball between Douglas College's Jeevan Sidhu (#9) and Efe Ilica while Mariners forward Adam Anhold looks on. Photo: Matt Carter
The Royals kept it much closer through the first half on Saturday but Mariners forward Adam Anhold scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half to help fire the Mariners to a 24-point victory.
It was Kai Leighton's turn to have a hot start for the Mariners. He scored 10 points in the first quarter on 4-for-4 shooting and added two rebounds, two assists, and a steal as VIU led Douglas 24-22 after 10 minutes. Douglas's Sidhu shot well again, earning 12 points in the quarter, all from three-pointers.
The Mariners outscored the Royals by an average of 7 points per quarter the rest of the way and cruised to the win, thanks to Anhold's solid play and efficient minutes from guard Kaeleb Johnson. Anhold earned a double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds) while Johnson scored 19 points in 19 minutes of action and added 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal.
Luca Bonamici (19 points) joined Sidhu (18 points) as the top Royals point-getters on the day.
UP NEXT
The Mariners (13-1) moved up to #3 in the CCAA national men's basketball rankings. VIU goes on the road to play the Capilano Blues (7-7) this weekend. The Blues beat the Mariners in the PACWEST final last year but VIU has won both matchups with Capilano this season, earning 91-82 and 82-65 victories in October. Capilano forward Zach Klim leads the conference in field goal percentage (62.6%).
Games go on Friday, January 19 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, January 20 at 3 p.m. Fans can watch online via PACWEST.TV or the Capilano Blues YouTube page.