Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

OUAZ Athletics

 MBB_01/25/25
MBB_01/25/25
65
Winner OUAZ OUAZ 8-13, 1-6
57
Benedictine Mesa (AZ) BENU 12-9, 1-6
Winner
OUAZ OUAZ
8-13, 1-6
65
Final
57
Benedictine Mesa (AZ) BENU
12-9, 1-6
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
OUAZ OUAZ 34 31 65
Benedictine Mesa (AZ) BENU 27 30 57

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Jas Singh

OUAZ Picks Up Huge Victory in Conference Play Against Benedictine Mesa

Mesa, Arizona- OUAZ picks up a huge first victory against conference foe Benedictine Mesa. The Spirit edge the Redhawks 65 to 57 in a one sided ballgame. The victory pushes the Spirit closer to the .500 mark at (8-13) overall and (1-6) in GSAC conference play. 

Zeke Viuhkola for the second straight game led all scorers with 21 points. Viuhkola, who's proven to be among the best scorers in the GSAC conference, shot a nearly perfect 9-12 from the field and a perfect 3 for 3 from beyond the arc. He also got it done defensively with a block and a steal. Portland CC transfer, Jack Galiardi had himself a day as well scoring 14 points on 6 of 11 shooting. The 6 '7 big man notched a team high 8 rebounds to go along with 2 blocks. Senior CJ Reed had a quietly productive game with 13 points and took advantage of what the defense gave him. He was able to get to the free throw line 3 times and went a perfect 6-6 from the charity strike. Reed dished out a team high 6 assists and consistently ran the offense at a high level getting all of his teammates involved. Defensively he also got 2 steals to add to his already loaded stat-line. 

The Spirit offense in the first-half was clicking on all cylinders as they went 15-25 from the field and ballooned their lead to as big as 14 before the half. The Spirit's all around game continued defensively as they held the RedHawks to only 35% shooting and a mere 25% from 3 point land. This domination defensively continued into the second half as they forced the RedHawks into tough shots and only 1 made three the entire half. In the entire second half the shooting woes continued for Ben U as they also shot 37% from the field. A usually hot team from three, the Spirit found a way to create other forms of offense despite some shooting struggles from the arc. They scored consistently inside the paint with 36 points directly from there. The final score was not a direct representation of the dominance the team put on the court all game from both sides of the ball. The Spirit controlled the game and steadily took great shots that proved to be lethal late in the game. The win notches Coach Ojanen's first conference victory as head coach and will definitely be the first of many!

The team will continue to build upon this amazing win next week on Thursday, January 30th against a talented Master's University team at 7:30pm in Faith Arena. Followed by a road matchup with Eagles of Embry-Riddle at 4:30pm in the ERAU Activity Center. Both games will be streamed on the GSAC Sports Network. 
Print Friendly Version