VICTORIA — A sluggish start against one of the top teams in the conference hindered the Winnipeg Wesmen Friday night.

The Victoria Vikes, the defending Canada West conference champions, outscored the Wesmen 31-16 in the second quarter and rolled to a 91-66 conference win on the West Coast.

Emmanuel Thomas led all Wesmen with 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the field but Winnipeg went into halftime trailing 51-30 after a 15-0 Victoria run over a 4:14 span of the second quarter put the game out of reach. Winnipeg had cut the lead to eight on a Mikhail Mikhailov field goal before the Vikes turned the tables.

Mikhailov finished with 12 points and six rebounds, and Donald Stewart added 10 points for the Wesmen, who were just 4-for-21 from three in falling to 2-1 on the season. 

Trent Monkman led six Vikes in double digits in scoring with 22 points. Ethan Boag added 17 and Dominick Oliveri had 18 rebounds as the Vikes won the battle on the glass 53-40.

The two teams meet again Saturday (7 p.m. CT) in a game that can be seen live on Canada West TV.