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Mariner men want to keep sharp

VIU's men's basketball team travels from Nanaimo to close out the regular season on the mainland this coming weekend.
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VIU Mariners player Richard Townsend Gant completes an alley-oop play with an emphatic slam dunk on Saturday at the Vancouver Island University gym.

The Vancouver Island University Mariners have clinched first place in the standings and a first-round bye in the playoffs.

Still, they haven’t achieved all their goals for the regular season.

There’s one more thing for the M’s (13-1) to do over this last weekend of the Pacific Western Athletic Association campaign – stay sharp for the post-season.

“There’s two weeks after our last league game, so if you start resting guys too early I think the break in between, it’s too long,” said Tony Bryce, coach of the Mariners.

VIU goes to the mainland to play the Capilano Blues on Friday (Feb. 17) and the Quest Kermodes on Saturday.

“I don’t think we’ll over-rest guys,” Bryce said. “We’ll be cautious; we’re not going to play anybody tired but we don’t like to lose. We want to go into the playoffs playing well.”

This weekend’s games are more significant to VIU’s women’s team (13-1), who probably have to beat both Cap (11-3) and Quest (9-5) to clinch first place in PacWest.

sports@nanaimobulletin.com



About the Author: Greg Sakaki

I have been in the community newspaper business for two decades, all of those years with Black Press Media.
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