M-BASKETBALL WEEKEND ROUNDUP: No. 5 Lancers stun No. 2 Ravens
Friday, January 23
Carleton 71 @ Windsor 74
Windsor, ON - The No. 5 Winsor Lancer men's basketball team shocked the four-time CIS defending champion and No. 2 Carleton Ravens on Friday night. The Lancers defeated the visitors 74-71 in front of a boisterous crowd at the St. Denis Centre.
With standout performances from Rotimi Osuntola Jr., who tallied his third straight double-double with a game high 22 points and 16 rebounds, as well as Khalid Abdel-Gabar and Mitch Farrell, the Lancers handed the Ravens their second loss of the season.
Carleton has only lost three games since the 2012-13 season, two of which were at the hands of the Lancers at the St. Denis Centre. The Blue & Gold defeated the national powerhouse 71-67 in their season opener in November 2012. The Ravens other loss was earlier this season against the No. 1 ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees just a few weeks ago.
Windsor played some solid defense down the stretch holding the Ravens off the scoreboard for the final two minutes of regulation and out-rebounding the visitors 50-35 overall.
With tensions high and the score within points, an ally-oop dunk from Osuntola Jr. tied the game 47-47 with just over three minutes left in the third quarter.
Trailing 61-57 with just over five minutes remaining in the game, Mitch Farrell caught fire with a monstrous three pointer and a running one-hander to put the Lancers up 67-65 with 3:39 to go.
The Lancers continued to knock down key shots and were outrageous on the boards en route to victory.
Abdel-Gabar finished the game with 18 points and five rebounds, while Farrell had 16 points, 8 rebounds and a steal.
Windsor will face another tough challenge Saturday night when they host the No. 1 ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00pm at the St. Denis Centre.
Source: Windsor Lancers
Ryerson 99 @ York 74
The York University Lions men's basketball team lost 99-74 to the No. 3 nationally-ranked Ryerson Rams on Friday (Jan. 23) at Tait McKenzie Centre.
The Lions kept the Rams at bay in the first quarter at 21-19. The visitors took the game slightly further by the end of the half at 52-40. But the Rams took over the second half by outscoring the Lions 76-55 at the third quarter and 99-74 at the final frame.
Nidun Chandrakumar (North York, Ont.) scored from downtown for the Lions' first basket.
Nathan Culbreath (Kingston, Ont.) and Richard Iheadindu (Brampton, Ont.) linked up well for the fast break to give the Lions an early 5-2 lead.
The Rams were able to take the lead through successful three-point shots.
Five minutes in, Lions captain Nick Tufegdzich (Tecumseh, Ont.) stepped up to push his team forward, initiating a good ball movement for a basket. Tufegdzich then won a charge call in defence, followed by a three-pointer.
Despite trailing by two points by the end of the quarter, the Lions kept the game close.
At the start of the second quarter, a series of failed attempts at long shots led to the Lions squandering their tight margin. The Rams extended their lead, besting the Lions at three-pointers.
A timeout was called by the Lions at 42-29. Tufegdzich starred after the short break, recording an assist, a rebound and a basket before the next timeout.
The first half ended with the Rams taking a 12-point lead to the third quarter.
The Rams were ruthless with punishing any mistakes committed by the Lions. The home team was outplayed by the energetic Rams.
At the final quarter, Tufegdzich was rested as the Lions looked to hold off the Rams. Rookie guard O'Neil Halstead (Toronto) subbed in and made a well-taken shot from under the ring.
However, the Lions were unable to catch up with the Rams by the next timeout at 87-62. Despite trailing by over 20 points, Culbreath showed good determination in scoring and drawing fouls. Culbreath recorded 18 points by the end of the match.
Tufegdzich recorded 19 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. The Rams' Jordon Gauthier scored a game high of 21 points and added eight rebounds.
The Lions will be back in action again on Saturday (Jan. 24) when they welcome the Toronto Varsity Blues to the Tait McKenzie Centre. Tip-off is set for 8pm.
Source: York Lions
Laurentian 74 @ Nipissing 64
From tip-off, it was the closest and arguably best game the Nipissing Lakers men's basketball team has played.
They battled from start to finished, they never quit, and they fought back on more than one occasion, but in the end, came up 10 points short to their rivals, the Laurentian Voyageurs.
The Voyageurs stayed calm despite any push back from the Lakers and navigated their way to a 74-64 victory to take Round 1 of the Highway 17 battle.
Nipissing came out hot in the first few minutes, but it was Laurentian with the 21-13 lead at the end of the quarter.
In the second quarter, it was just a two point advantage for the Voyageurs, as the teams went into the half with Laurentian leading 38-28.
The third quarter was the Lakers best, as they put up 22 points and closed the gap to just seven points heading into the final frame.
Both teams tightened up defensively and in the end, the Lakers were unable to muster enough offence to complete the comeback and tie the game.
Laurentian finished off the game by outscoring Nipissing 17-14 and walked away with a 10 point victory.
Marcos Clennon was impressive with 15 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double, while Joey Puddister had 12 and Marvin Ngonadi had 10 points to pace the Lakers offence.
The Lakers are back in action Sunday afternoon against Algoma on the road.
Source: Nipissing Lakers
Ottawa @ Western
LONDON, Ont – A career-high 41 points from Greg Morrow helped the Western Mustangs put a scare into the nation's top team, keeping things close until the final minute before the Ottawa Gee-Gees narrowly edged out the Mustangs by a 90-82 score on Friday night at Alumni Hall.
Not only did Morrow top his own individual record, a mark that he set just two games ago against Laurier, but his 41 points led all scorers on Friday. Joining Morrow in double digits were teammates Anthony Spiridis and Cameron Morris with 14 and 11 points respectively. Four players scored in double digits for the Gee-Gees, with Caleb Agada recording 21 points and Johnny Berhanemeskel following behind with 20 of his own. Both teams were impressive on the free throw line, achieving a 74.2% success rate for the Gee-Gees and 71.4% for the Mustangs.
"It's a bitter sweet feeling. It feels good that we played good as a team and I had a good individual performance, but it doesn't feel right because we lost," says Morrow.
"Greg was huge," said head coach Brad Campbell praising Morrow for his impressive play. "Greg offensively gave us a chance to win that game. When anyone scores 40 and loses, its disappointing. But every single point of that 41 was required for us to have a chance to win this game."
Right from tip-off the Mustangs defence glued themselves to the Gee-Gees like their life depended on it, forcing the Gee-Gees to take until the end of the shot clock to finish their play. The first quarter saw the Gee-Gees sink five three point shots, as their strong outside shooting kept them ahead on the board, while the Mustangs countered with inside shooting, including sinking all eight of their free throws in the frame. The quarter ended in the visitors favour with a score of 28-18.
The Mustangs slowly closed the gap in the second quarter, utilizing fast footwork and improved defence to generate steals and capitalize on their chances, eventually shrinking the Gee-Gees lead to 42-38 heading into the half. Helping to lead the way for the Mustangs in the second frame was Morris who scored nine of his eleven points, with George Johnson helping to get him the ball more often than not.
Not to be outdone, Berhanemeskel powered the Ottawa offence, draining 10 of his 20 points in the opening two quarters, while also helping out on the defensive end with two steals.
After halftime the purple and white refused to back down on their aggressive defence and continued to grab rebounds and steals to keep within four for the opening minutes of the half. Other than a few brief moments the Mustangs kept within five points of their oppenents, thanks in large part to Morrow who took the smooth path into the paint multiple times proving to the opposition that the key was no enemy of Morrow. The London native's strong shooting, he connected on 75% of his field goal attempts for the night, helped the Mustangs put up a stellar quarter as they outscored the Gee-Gees 22-21 to cut Ottawa's lead to 63-60, setting the stage for a thrilling final quarter.
Morrow continued to lead the team in the key and in defence taking the ball in his possession whenever he could. The Gee-Gees responded to the Mustang threat, once again utilizing their strong outside shooting to keep a comfortable lead, yet, the Mustangs never let the team get settled. The crowd, which had been getting progressively louder throughout the game, erupted with 3:26 left when Tom Figliano swept up a pass from Morris before sliding underneath the basket to tie the game at 79-79. Whistles and cheers followed as the pace picked up instantly once the Mustangs tied the game. However, despite the tough defence that the Mustangs challenged the Gee-Gees with, their opponents were quick to keep up and toss three pointers while also grabbing rebounds to regain the lead, eventually claiming a 90-82 win.
Despite facing off with the CIS top team there's no rest for the Mustangs tomorrow as they'll face the CIS No. 2 Carleton Ravens. When asked about tomorrow night's contest, Morrow said that the team plans to "come out aggressive like we did today.
"Just as a team, we can't be timid, we just have to come out of the gate. Sometimes we start off slow on offence and defence, so we dig ourselves in a hole and have trouble getting out of it. So we just need to be focused."
"Defensively, we got to get back to what we can do," said coach Campbell. "We're going to face a very tough Carleton opponent tomorrow. They're going to test us on the rebounding and offensively they're very good, too. We've got to get back to containing our man and playing some defensive basics a little bit better."
The Mustangs face the defending national champion Carleton Ravens on Saturday night at Alumni Hall. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. and can be watched live on OUA.tv. Fans can also listen live on CHRW Radio 94.9 FM.
Source: Western Mustangs
Toronto 74 @ Queens 82
KINGSTON, Ont. (January 23, 2015) – The Gaels (4-7) came back from a 14 point first quarter deficit to win 82-74 against the Toronto Varsity Blues (3-8) this Friday night at the ARC.
Tanner Graham (Kingston, Ont.) had an outstanding night for the Gaels grabbing five rebounds and scoring 24 points in their win. The Gaels also saw contributions from Greg Faulkner (Kingston, Ont.) with 21 points and Sukhpreet Singh (Toronto) with 14 points and eight rebounds. The Blues were led by Devin Johnson who scored a game high 25 points as well as Manny Sahota and Julian Clarke who both added 16 points of their own.
The Blues dominated the first quarter scoring 29 points over the 15 points scored by the Gaels. Queen's got some traction in the second quarter and closed in on the Blues, outscoring them 20-11 to shrink the lead to 40-35 for the Varsity Blues at halftime.
The Gaels continued their momentum in the second half but the Blues managed to stay ahead answering every Gael basket with one of their own. With three minutes left in the third quarter the Gaels grabbed their first lead of the game and held onto it until the end of the quarter, putting them ahead by a slim two point margin.
It was a tight final quarter with the Gaels struggling to hold onto their lead as the Blues stayed right on their heels. In the last minute of play the Gaels shot 6-8 from the charity stripe putting a win out of reach for the Blues and wrapping the game up at 82-74.
"It's a number three team in the country tomorrow," said Head Coach Stephan Barrie looking ahead to their upcoming game against Ryerson. "The challenge is going to be greater and the opposition is going to be really tough. The guys need to take what we did in the final three quarters and build off that. We just need to go out there, play really good basketball and the score will worry about itself."
The Gaels will be back in action January 24 when they host the No.3 Ryerson Rams at 8:00 pm in the ARC Main Gym.
Source: Queen's Gaels
Other Scores: Algoma 64 @ Lakehead 74
Saturday, January 24
Laurier 80 @ Brock 84
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Brock University men's basketball team (5-7 OUA) rallied in the second half to defeat the Laurier Golden Hawks (4-8 OUA) by the score of 84-80 Saturday afternoon at the Bob Davis Gymnasium.
Prior to the game, Mr. Larry Pearson, friends Ryan Dudley and Lucas Hodgson, Brock University Vice President Finance and Administration Brian Hutchings and Director of Athletics and Recreation Rob Cargnelli were on hand the present the Jason Pearson Memorial Award to Brock men's basketball player Nate Gardner. He becomes the first two-time recipent of the award.
Laurier jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, and closed out the final five minutes of the first quarter on a 22-5 run, to take a 30-12 lead after 10 minutes. The Badgers had a better second quarter, outscoring the Golden Hawks 16-9, trailing 39-28 at the half.
In the third quarter, Brock opened with an 14-0 run to take their first lead of the game 42-39, highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers from Johneil Simpson (Toronto, Ont.) and Zachary Angelini (Hamilton, Ont.).
The Badgers would extend that lead to eight points, 49-41, midway through the third stanza. Laurier's offense answered right back with a 16-2 run of their own, to go regain the lead 57-51 with under two minutes left in the quarter. The Golden Hawks held a 59-55 lead after 30 minutes.
Laurier held onto the lead until midway through the quarter, when Brock's Nolan Mackenzie (Oakville, Ont.) knocked down two free throws to put the Badgers up 69-68 with 5:25 remaining in regulation.
Brock extended their lead to six with just under three minutes left, 78-72, after two three-point plays from forward Matt Marshall (Burlington, Ont.).
The Golden Hawks would once again answered putting together a 6-1 run, cutting the lead to one, 79-78, after a missed free throw from Chuder Teny that would have tied the game with 1:17 left in regulation.
The Badgers knocked down 3 of 4 free throws in the final seconds to secure the home victory.
Brock had five players in double figures led by Marshall who finished with 21 points and 18 rebounds for the double-double and Simpson also recorded 21 points. Angelini contributed with 15 points, while Mackenzie (13 points, four assists) and Dani Elgadi (Waterloo, Ont.) (10 points, 10 rebounds) rounded out the Badgers leaders.
Kyrie Coleman led the Golden Hawks offense registering 26 points and 15 boards. Will Coulthard added 18 points and six assists, while Luke Allin finished with 12 points, all from downtown.
For the game, Brock went 28-for-73 (38.4%) from the floor, 4-for-16 (25.0%) from beyond the arc and 24-for-32 (75.0%) from the charity stripe. Laurier finished the contest shooting 42.3% (33-for-78) from the field, 31.6% (6-for-19) from three-point range and just 42.1% (8-for-19) from the free throw line.
The Badgers will be back in action on Wednesday, January 28th at 8pm as they host the No. 3 ranked Ryerson Rams for the first annual President's Game at Brock University.
Source: Brock Badgers
Toronto 77 @ York 87
The York University Lions men's basketball team sealed an emphatic 87-77 victory over the Toronto Varsity Blues in a game full of spectacular highlights on Saturday (Jan. 24) at Tait McKenzie Centre.
The game was preceded by an opening ceremony honouring alumni Matthew Ziobrowski (Thornhill, Ont.), who played for the Lions in the past three seasons.
Nathan Culbreath (Kingston, Ont.) opened the scoring for the Lions with a well-taken shot from downtown.
The Blues Sage Usher attempted a jump shot but was blocked by Nick Tufegdzich (Tecumseh, Ont.). Tufegdzich followed it up with a steal and a long pass to Culbreath, who made the layup for another basket and drawing a foul in the process.
Richard Iheadindu (Brampton, Ont.) attempted a shot from outside the line. Culbreath grabbed the offensive rebound and the basket.
Before the first timeout, Iheadindu made a three-pointer to give the Lions an early 13-7 lead.
Culbreath continued to impress with a steal and the slam-dunk. O'Neil Halstead (Toronto) made a buzzer-beater shot to stamp the Lion's dominance in the first quarter at 26-16. Culbreath finished the quarter with 18 points.
To open the second quarter, Culbreath made another shot from downtown. Culbreath finished the game with an impressive tally of 29 points.
Iheadindu drew a foul on the three-point line and converted two free-throws out of three. He proceeded to score another three points moments later.
Despite the energy the Lions displayed on the court, the Blues were able to catch up with their unguarded long shots. By halftime, the Lions lead by a thin lead of 46-40.
The Lions took off the third quarter with another run of impressive plays. Tufegdzich linked up well with Culbreath and Phillip Cunningham-Gillen (Hamilton, Ont.) to widen the margin again.
Rookie forward Nana Adu-Poku (North York, Ont.) drove in the line for an open slam-dunk as the Lions ended the quarter at 68-52.
Miscommunication by the Blues caused discord in the team as they looked to catch up with the home team. Several turnovers aided the Blues in the attacking half, but it was not enough to beat the Lions who won by a 10-point gap at 87-77.
Two players from the Lions achieved the double-double. In addition to scoring 29 points, Culbreath also made 12 rebounds. Tufegdzich made 17 points and 17 rebounds, along with four assists, three blocks and a steal.
The Blues Julian Clarke led the team with 17 points and five assists. Devin Johnson made 16 points and six rebounds.
The Lions will be in London, Ont., for the match against the Western Mustangs on Friday (Jan. 30) beginning at 8pm.
Source: York Lions
Ryerson 90 @ Queen's 65
KINGSTON, Ont. (January 24, 2015) – After a valiant effort, the Gaels (4-8) fell to the No. 3 Ryerson Rams (12-2) 90-65 this Friday night.
The Gaels were led by Patrick Street (Etobicoke, Ont.) and Greg Faulkner (Kingston, Ont.) who matched each other with 16 points and four rebounds apiece. Sukhpreet Singh (Toronto) followed them with his 12 points and four rebounds. Kadeem Green and Aaron Best were score board leaders for the Rams both scoring 17 points and grabbing five rebounds.
The Rams dominated the court from the tip off, doubling the Gaels in rebounds and shooting 24 points while the Gaels only hit 14 in the first quarter. The second quarter saw more of the Rams quick offense as the Gaels tried to find the seams in their tight defense. By halftime the Rams had extended their 10 point lead to a 20 point lead as they headed into the second half up 49-29.
The Rams continued to lead on both offensive and defensive fronts, outshooting the Gaels 22-16 in the third quarter to put themselves ahead 71-45 for the final quarter of play. The Gaels kept the No. 3 team on their toes, but with a 26 point deficit to come back from Queen's couldn't catch an edge and Ryerson let the clock run out on their 90-65 victory.
The Gaels will be on the road to Windsor next Friday, January 30 when they take on the Windsor University Lancers. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:00 pm.
Source: Queen's Gaels
Ottawa 81 @ Windsor 70
The visiting Ottawa Gee-Gees held of the Lancer men's basketball team to earn an 81-70 win over the hosts Saturday night at the St. Denis Centre.
With the loss, the No. 5 Lancers split the weekend series with the nation's capital and move to 8-4 on the season and remain tied with the Western Mustangs for first place in the OUA west division. The top ranked Gee-Gees remain undefeated on the season and sit in first place overall in the OUA.
Windsor was led by Mitch Farrell who racked up 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Rotimi Osuntola Jr. recorded his fifth straight double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Four of five of Ottawa's starters hit double digits on the night and were led by Johnny Berhanemeskel with a game high 22 points. Caleb Agada had Ottawa's only double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
The Lancers were coming into the game riding on a tremendous amount of confidence after upsetting the no. 2 Carleton Ravens 74-71 on Friday night. Things went back and forth in the first half with Ottawa gaining an edge thanks to a big first half from long range, taking a 50-40 lead into the half time break.
The Lancers tightened up their defence in the second half as their perimeter defence pushed Ottawa away from their three point game. Osuntola Jr. was big on both ends for Windsor causing havoc for Ottawa but struggled from the free-throw line shooting 4-9 in the game.
Windsor never quite went away in the game, staying within striking distance of the Gee-Gees up until the final play. However, a late surge from the visitors allowed them to pull ahead just enough to seal the victory.
The Lancers will return to the court at home once again next weekend when they host the Queen's Gaels on Friday night at 8:00pm.
Saturday's game marks the Department of Athletics' annual Breast Cancer Awareness Day. New commemorative t-shirts will be available for sale at all events throughout the day for $10 with all proceeds going to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Pink 'Shoot for the Cure' grocery totes will also be available for $3. Windsor hosts York at 8:00pm.
Source: Windsor Lancers
Carleton 98 @ Western 61
LONDON, Ont – A strong first half gave the CIS No. 2 Carleton Ravens a lead they would never relinquish, giving the Ravens a 98-61 win over the Western Mustangs on Saturday night at Alumni Hall.
With the loss the Mustangs record moves to 8-5, keeping them in second place in the OUA West Division Standings right behind Windsor, who have a game in hand. Western sits eight points ahead of the third-place Laurier Golden Hawks. Carleton adds another win to their record, updating to 11-2 which keeps them in second place in the OUA North Division standings, right behind the Ottawa Gee-Gees.
Second-year Mustang Cameron Morris topped the Western scoreboard with the team-high 17 points off of 6-for-7 shooting, including going an impressive 4-for-5 from beyond the three point line. Joining him with double digit totals were teammates Anthony Spiridis with 15 points and Greg Morrow with 10. Connor Wood of the Ravens took the game-high with 21 points, followed closely by four of his teammates who hit double digits as well. Thomas Scrubb made an impressive impact on the court racking 16 rebounds along with two assists.
The Ravens defence proved to be a challenging force right from the first quarter. Consistently keeping the Mustangs on their heels, the Ravens used their fast footwork and defensive schemes to keep the home side under intense pressure. Despite only connecting 26.7% of their field goals to the bottom of the basket, the first quarter ended on a positive note for the Mustangs with Morris hitting a three-point buzzer beater to put the Mustangs within six with a score of 19-13.
Although the Mustangs improved their outside shooting percentage in the second quarter, increasing from 28.6% to a 44.4% success rate, the Ravens continued to increase their lead throughout the frame. Veteran Thomas Scrubb was a key factor in the Ravens defence, grabbing 14 rebounds in the half, 11 of which in the opening quarter. Scrubb, along with two teammates, hit double digits in points for the half which gave them a comfortable 26-point lead to go into the third with a score of 51-25.
The Ravens came back from the half with no plans to ease up on both ends of the court. Carleton's heavy defence led the Mustangs sending the ball around the arc in hopes to loosen up the Ravens and make a play for the net. The Mustangs kept the scoring tighter than in the second, only being outshot 26-19, but ended the third trailing 77-44 thanks in part to the Ravens strong rebounding as they grabbed 12 boards in the quarter.
Despite keeping pace with the Ravens throughout the final 10 minutes, Carleton's first half lead proved to be too much to overcome as they walked away with a 98-61 win.
"With a short turnaround [from last night's game], there's a couple of details that normally we would be able to prepare for a little more. That hurt us a bit" said assistant coach John Curcio. "Once they gapped us, it was hard to get back into it."
The Mustangs will be back on home court to take on the York Lions on Friday, January 30 at Alumni Hall. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. and can be watched live on OUA.tv.
Source: Western Mustangs
Waterloo 64 @ McMaster 81
The McMaster men's basketball team shook off a slow start and used a third-quarter explosion to hand the Waterloo Warriors an 81-64 defeat in Hamilton on Saturday.
The game didn't begin quite the way Marauder fans were expecting, as Waterloo Guard Myles Charvis had a strong opening quarter and the Warriors took advantage of a sluggish McMaster start to take a 17-11 lead after 10 minutes.
The Maroon started to push back against a very physical Warrior team to start the second stanza. The jump in defensive intensity saw the Marauders start to assume control and ignited by a big three-pointer from Trevon McNeil, they ended the quarter on an 11-2 run to take a 33-30 lead into the intermission.
Waterloo wanted to get back to what was working at the start of the game, but the third quarter was all McMaster as the Marauders kept up the pressure to win the period 28-12 and open a 61-42 margin heading to the final quarter.
The fourth quarter saw the Mac lead hover around the 20-point mark, and the closest the Warriors could get was within 16. Coach Connolly was able to use all 12 players and the Marauder depth was a factor as no Marauder played more than 25 minutes, while Waterloo had three who logged over 35 minutes of court time.
Leon Alexander was the top Marauder scorer with 17, followed by Taylor Black with 14 and both Rohan Boney and Joe Rocca with 10. Rocca scored all 10 of his points in the second-half to help the McMaster surge. Top shooter for Waterloo was Jaspreet Gill with 16.
McMaster made 47% of its shots, while Waterloo shot a cooler 38% from the floor. Enjoying a definite size advantage, the Marauders out-rebounded the Warriors 48-22.
With the win McMaster goes to 10 and 3 in OUA play, and is alone in first in the Central Division. Next game for the Marauders is on Wednesday, January 28 versus the Guelph Gryphons.
Source: McMaster Marauders
Sunday, January 25
Other Scores: Nipissing 59 @ Algoma 72