Terrell Evans played hero Sunday afternoon at McKinnon Gym.

With the host University of Victoria Vikes and the Calgary Dinos playing the deciding game in the best-of-three Canada West men's basketball quarter-final, Evans scored an improbable basket at the buzzer as the Vikes defeated the Dinos 90-88 in the most entertaining game of the season before about 1,400 fans.

With the game tied 88-88 and 17.6 seconds remaining, the Vikes put the ball in the hands of fifth-year player Ryan MacKinnon, who had a monster game. MacKinnon launched the shot with five seconds remaining but it rimmed out. UVic's Pierce Anderson redirected the rebound and Evans put the ball back up off the glass and in as time expired.

"Our designed play was for Ryan [MacKinnon] to take the last shot,'' Evans said. "He had a hot hand all night and he made a good shot. I just put the ball back up towards the basketball and I didn't see it go in. I was bumped from behind and the next thing I knew I was celebrating on the floor. Right now, I'm speechless.

That was a great game.''

The Vikes advance to the Final Four on Friday in Saskatoon against the Fraser Valley Cascades. If they win that game at 4: 15 p.m., UVic will advance to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship, March 9-11 in Halifax. If the Vikes lose to Fraser Valley, they could still advance as an at-large wild card team to be determined Sunday by a committee. The Saskatchewan Huskies will play the Alberta Golden Bears in the other Final Four semifinal.

The game was well played by the teams, and as soon as one team would take a four-or five-point lead, the other squad would respond.

"That was a great display of basketball by two good teams,'' said UVic coach Craig Beaucamp.

"We knew that we weren't getting an easy opponent to play and Calgary was really tough on us. I'm very proud of how our guys responded to the challenge.''

Calgary held a 48-43 lead at the half, but the Vikes stormed back to take a 69-64 lead heading into the final 10 minutes. Then Calgary went on a 10-2 run before MacKinnon scored the next seven points for UVic.

MacKinnon finished with a game-high 33 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

He had six of his team's eight three-pointers.

"This was a good way to say goodbye to McKinnon Gym,'' MacKinnon said. "I was very motivated to play well and have my best game possible to help the team win. It was a great game to play in as it was a back-and-forth battle. Now we have to refocus for our next challenge in the Final Four.''

UVic's Michael Acheampong, who was held to one and two points in the first two games, respectively, hit for 18. Mike Berg contributed 14, including 10 in the third quarter, while Evans finished with 12.

"We didn't play that well defensively in the first half but Ryan [MacKinnon] and Michael [Acheampong] kept us in the game,'' Beaucamp said. "Without them, we would have been out of it early.''

Six-foot-nine guard Tyler Fidler was a tower of strength for Calgary.

Despite injuring his elbow in the fourth quarter and returning to finish the game, he had 30 points.

"It was a really hardfought series,'' said Fidler, who had tears in his eyes after the emotional loss.

"UVic is a hard team to beat at home. Our team fought very hard and we have no regrets.''

Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson netted 21 points for Calgary, while Boris Bakovic had 14 and Josh Owen-Thomas 11.

The Vikes were the Pacific Division champions with a 14-4 record. They are also ranked No. 5 by the CIS. Calgary posted a 10-10 record and started the playoffs on a six-game winning streak. The Dinos extended that to seven with Friday's 73-68 win before losing 68-61 on Saturday.

rrauch@timescolonist.com