On Friday evening in the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees battled the University of Victoria Vikes for a place in the men’s U Sports national championship final, but ultimately fell, with Victoria winning 89–75.
In a physical and intense game, Victoria opened with an explosive display of offence. Gee-Gee guard Jacques-Mélaine Guemeta opened the scoring, but it was the Vikes who dominated the first quarter.
Victoria’s offensive variation put instant pressure on the Gee-Gees, who struggled to put points on the board. Ottawa was overly reliant on their three-point shooting, only converting 12.5 per cent of their attempts from beyond the arc in the first quarter. They also struggled to pick up offensive rebounds, which the Vikes turned into fastbreak points.
Ottawa came out revitalized by the quarter break, amping up the pressure and aggression. They opened with a layup and forced a few turnovers, which Guemeta converted into back-to-back three-pointers. Guemeta was a standout player, leading his team in scoring with 16 points at halftime.
Defensively, the Gee-Gees tightened up, double-teaming Ethan Boag to shut down the Vikes’ offence and close the gap to 25–21. Rattled by Ottawa’s press defence, the Vikes resorted to deep threes to work around the Gee-Gees’ tight coverage, but they were less clinical than the first quarter.
From there, the pace of the game picked up, being played end-to-end with the Gee-Gees matching the Vikes’ rapid offence. Despite Ottawa forcing turnovers and cutting the deficit, Victoria maintained their lead. Geoffrey James was a key player for the Vikes in the first half, scoring 19 points and converting from the three-point line 5 times to help Victoria end the first half up 48–37. Vikes head coach Murphy Burnatowski commended James’ efforts after the game.
“We needed him to step up and he picked a timely time to do it,” he said.
Despite being challenged by the Gee-Gees, the Vikes regained control in the third quarter. They opened up their shooting and regained their composure, with Renaldo Robinson facilitating the attack. With this, the Vikes also regained their momentum, putting up a total of 4 assists and 12 rebounds in the quarter. Ottawa was unable to match Victoria’s aggression as the gap widened to 72–54.
The last quarter was make-or-break for Ottawa, who struggled with Victoria’s dynamic and agile offence, which had troubled them throughout the game. The Gee-Gees were relentless, fighting up to the last second — yet, their efforts were in vain. Victoria cruised into the finals with a 89–75 victory, which Burnatowski attributed to the team’s persistence.
“[The Gee-Gee’s] are a good team ... they constantly kept making runs and putting pressure on us,” he said. “I give a lot of credit to them for that, but I [also] give a lot of credit to our guys because in this big stage… we were able to keep it going.”
The Vikes will play the University of Calgary Dinos in the championship finals on Sunday afternoon at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Tip-off is at 1 p.m.
This article is part of our 2025 Final 8 coverage. Follow us at @UbysseySports on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, as well as @theubyssey on TikTok, to follow our U Sports basketball coverage starting March 12.
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