Mariners Open Title Defence

#4 Langara Falcons @ #1 VIU Mariners – Friday March 3, 8:00pm | WATCH HERE

The defending champion and undefeated VIU Mariners hit the court for the first time at the PACWEST championship tournament today when they face the Langara Falcons in a rematch of last year’s semi-final.

The Mariners have been the class the PACWEST this season and have been ranked as the #1 team in the CCAA since the year tipped off.  They are laced with veteran leadership led by the Player of the Year Tori Odom along with first team All-Star Richard Henderson.  Last year’s top player Akoi Yuot rejoined the team in the second semester and added to the already potent offence.  Former All-Star Landon Radliff came back to the Mariners at the beginning of the season to give them even more firepower and a very dangerous shot from the outside.  As a whole they are the top scoring offensive averaging over 92 points a game.

Yesterday the Falcons showed their offense punch beating the Douglas Royals in a quarterfinal 103-71 connecting on an incredible 16-three pointers and shot 47% from the field.   Royce Sargeant led his club with 22 points and Nicholas Lafontaine finished with 21.  They have fallen three times to the Mariners this season but in two of the those games they have played them tough.  As a matter of fact one of the games was just a five point spread which was the closest margin of victory for the Mariners this season.

In last year’s semi-final the game was close for the first three quarters before the Mariners pulled away and claimed an 98-80 victory.  The Mariners went onto win gold while the Falcons won bronze last year.