AROUND OUA: Gaels take down No. 4 ranked Badgers with thrilling comeback victory
KINGSTON, Ont. (November 21, 2015)- The Queen's Gaels men's basketball team recorded arguably its biggest victory of the regular season on Saturday evening at the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC) by defeating the CIS No. 4 ranked Brock Badgers in thrilling fashion, 87-81.
SCOREBOARD
Gaels take down No. 4 ranked Badgers with thrilling comeback victory
KINGSTON, Ont. (November 21, 2015)- The Queen's Gaels men's basketball team recorded arguably its biggest victory of the regular season on Saturday evening at the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC) by defeating the CIS No. 4 ranked Brock Badgers in thrilling fashion, 87-81.
Sukhpreet Singh (Toronto) tallied a team-high 18 points, Tanner Graham (Kingston) and Patrick Street (Etobicoke, Ont.) added 17 and 16 respectively for the Gaels, who bounced back from a loss on Friday to improve their overall conference record to 4-1. The Badgers, who had their three-game winning streak to begin the regular season snapped, were led by Matt Marshall who picked up a game-high 26 points as well as 10 rebounds in the loss.
GAME FLOW
Unhappy with the compete level amongst his team over the first two quarters of the match, Head Coach Steph Barrie called an important timeout midway through the second period that served as the turning point of the match.
Leading up to the break, while both team's were shooting efficiently on offence (Brock shot 50%, while the Gaels worked at a 53.3% efficiency), it was the Badgers who dominated the glass over the opening two quarters, picking up 14 second-chance points off nine offensive rebounds. The Badgers outrebounded Queen's 21-12 overall in the first half, but the momentum had already begun to shift in favour of the home side, who went on an 8-2 run to bring the deficit down to single digits heading into the break.
Singh picked up four points to start the second half for Queen's, while the Badgers, who were so potent offensively in the first half, crawled out of the gate, turning the ball over three times within the opening minutes of the third. A corner three from Andrew Mavety (Vancouver) helped the Gaels stay within striking distance. The Badgers didn't help their own cause, as they committed eight turnovers in the third quarter alone.
The momentum continued to swing in favour of the hosts with each take-away, and consecutive baskets from beyond the arc by Graham and Street evened the match late in the third. Sammy Ayisi polished off an intense quarter with an end-to-end run, finishing with a quick lay-up off the glass to send the teams into the fourth quarter tied at 60-60.
The hosts overtook the lead on a Graham jumper, and then Street drained a very deep three, sending the ARC crowd into a frenzy and giving Queen's its largest lead of the game at five. After the Gaels extended the lead to seven, the Brock offence suddenly came out of its slumber, as the Badgers tallied 10 points in a row, including a couple of three-pointers from Ryan Bennett and Marshall.
With the scored tied at 81-81 at the 1:03 mark, the Gaels made good on 3-of-4 free-throws by Singh and Mark Paclibar (Minesing, Ont.), and Bennett could not sink a three-pointer that would have tied the match. Tanner Graham came up big from the foul-line following the Badgers misses and ensuing fouls, adding three more points for the Gaels that put the game out of reach.
The Gaels shot a formidable 52.6% from the field, compared to 44.4% from the Badgers, and are now tied with the Ryerson Rams atop the OUA East division.
FINAL SAY
" (In the first half) we were getting outcompeted, especially on the offensive glass, so we just got the message through that if they want to be a team that contends at the highest level, those things can't happen," said Barrie. "We responded, came out in the second half and played much better. What really turned it around for us was getting consecutive stops on defence. Once we were able to string some stops together, we were then able to go on some runs and slow them down. It's a great win, but we're not going to spend too much time on it. We have two more games before the break next weekend and we have to finish strong."
BY THE NUMBERS
26- The number of points the Gaels scored off of Brock turnovers
32- Bench points by Queen's, compared to nine from the Badgers
14- Brock's largest lead of the match at 2:23 of the second quarter
11/16/2012 - The last time the Gaels defeated a CIS Top 10 ranked team, they took down a No.7 Lakehead team 96-87
UP NEXT
The men travel to Laurier and Waterloo next Friday and Saturday for their final regular season games of the fall schedule before the holiday break.
Source: Queen's Gaels
Lancers edge Varsity Blues 89-88
The Lancer men's basketball team narrowly edged the Toronto Varsity Blues 89-88 on Saturday afternoon at the St. Denis Centre.
Windsor is tied for first in the OUA west division with the Laurier Golden Hawks with a 4-1 record, while the Blues fall to 1-3 and sit in fourth place in the east.
With the Lancers leading 50-43 at the half, the Blues opened the third quarter on a 17-10 streak evening the score at 60-60 midway through the frame. Toronto kept their momentum going and led by as many as nine points (73-64), but the Lancers rallied with six straight points to cut the deficit to three (73-70) heading into the fourth.
The Blues held a narrow lead throughout the fourth quarter until Alex Campbell scored to give the home team the one-point advantage with 9.5 second to go. Toronto inbounded the ball but was unable to drain the winning basket as time expired in favour of the Lancers.
Alex Campbell led the Lancers with 26 points, six assists and five boards, while Marko Kovac had 16 points and Isiah Osborne notched 14 points in the win.
The Lancers will close out the fall semester with a pair of games against the always challenging No. 1 Ottawa Gee Gees next Friday night, and the No. 2 Carleton Ravens on Saturday. Both games will tip-off at 8:00pm and can be seen live at www.oua.tv.
Source: Windsor Lancers
Hawks take battle of Waterloo 95-81
The Warriors had no answer for Will Coulthard as the talented guard put up 35 points to lead his Lauirer Golden Hawks past the black and gold 95-81 in the battle of Waterloo on Saturday afternoon at the PAC.
Coulthard went 10-for-25 including four from downtown and also made 11 of 13 free throw attempts. As a team the Hawks shot 40.5% from the field while Waterloo was as good at 39.2% but the different came from beyond the arc as the Hawks made 11 three pointer's while Waterloo sunk just five.
The Warriors got behind the eight ball early as Laurier outscored Waterloo 19-13 in the first quarter and 26-20 in the second quarter to hold a 12 point lead at half. The remaining two halves would only go the way of the Hawks by two points but the first half deficit was too much to overcome.
Adding to Coulthard's point tally was Luke Allin who had 17 while Matt Chesson contributed with 13.
Waterloo got a spirited effort by Jon Ravenhorst (Sarnia) who put up 23 points and added two rebounds. Ben Davis (Mississauga) added 15 points on several highlight reel baskets while Mike Pereira (Kitchener) had 12. Pereira also led the way on the boards with 13 rebounds. Off the bench Muhammad Anwar (Mississauga) put in a solid 17 minutes with nine points and 10 rebounds.
The Warriors will have the week off before two more home games to close out 2015. Friday night they will take on the York Lions before Queen's enters the PAC on Saturday. Both games are at 8pm.
Source: Waterloo Warriors
No. 1 ranked Gee-Gees fly to fifth straight win over Thunderbirds
The no. 1 ranked uOttawa men's basketball team wasted no time ensuring it was going to control the pace of its lone game of the weekend, opening with an 11-0 run over the Algoma Thunderbirds. That start led to an 85-49 victory, improving Ottawa's regular season record to 5-0.
Caleb Agada was a force for the Gee-Gees, slamming home three dunks as part of his 18 points. The fourth-year wing also led the team in rebounding with nine and picked up a big block in the fourth quarter, keeping Ottawa's energy up.
Second-year Gee-Gee Mackenzie Morrison marked his return to the lineup with eight points and five rebounds in 14 minutes of action.
"It feels great to be back out here. The sideline gets really boring eventually," joked Morrison, who was sidelined with a shoulder injury in NCAA exhibition against Baylor on August 13. "You cheer as loud as you can on the bench but I was itching to get back out here. Everyone was clicking, and doing what they do well."
Ottawa locked down defensively in the opening quarter, and keyed on Algoma's most dangerous players. Brett Zufelt finished with a team high of 10 points for the Thunderbirds, six of which came from the free throw line.
Algoma shot 21 per cent from the field in the first half while Ottawa enjoyed a 63 per cent shooting half and led 51-17 heading into the locker rooms.
The Gee-Gees will remain in Ottawa to take on the Windsor Lancers and Western Mustangs next Friday and Saturday at Montpetit Hall.
Source: Ottawa Gee-Gees
Lions come up short against No. 9 ranked Marauders
The York University Lions men's basketball team came up short on Saturday (Nov. 21) against the ninth-ranked McMaster Marauders by a score of 88-74 at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
The Lions played a strong first quarter and held a one-point advantage after the first 10 minutes of play, at 22-21, but the Marauders found their offensive touch in the second to pull ahead 49-39 at the half. The visitors continued that strong play into the third quarter, outscoring the Lions by their biggest margin (12) to take a commanding 74-52 lead.
The Lions picked up their play in the fourth quarter and held the Marauders to just 14 points while scoring 22 themselves, but it wasn't enough to upset McMaster.
The key factor in the Marauders victory over the Lions was the three ball. McMaster went 7-17 from beyond the arc, where the Lions struggled going 10-32 from deep. Usual deep threat Tommy Hobbs (Anchorage, Alaska) was effective in other areas Saturday night, as he was a spark plug for the Lions picking up the occasional basket and gathering timely rebounds. Hobbs finished the game with a team-high nine rebounds and added seven points.
The Lions were led in scoring by first year guard Jayden Fredrick (Scarborough, Ont.) with 15 points, who slashed through the paint for the majority of his buckets.
Point guard Shane Reader (York, Ont.), who is ranked second in the OUA in assists per game, quarterbacked the Lion offence efficiently throughout the match, facilitating the ball and controlling the pace of the game. Reader finished Saturday night with a stat line of nine points and four assists.
Leon Alexander of the Marauders was a tough guard on Saturday evening as he finished with a game-high 26 points to lead his squad.
The McMaster Marauders are now 4-2 on the season, while the Lions fell to 2-3 with the loss. The Lions will look to get back into the win column next weekend (Nov. 27) on the road in Waterloo, Ont., when they face off against the 0-5 Warriors.
Source: York Lions
Gryphons Win 77-59 versus Nipissing
Guelph, ON: The Gryphons Men's Basketball team picked up their second win of the season defeating the Nipissing Lakers 77-59 Saturday night at the W.F. Mitchell Athletics Centre. Guelph was in control of the game throughout as 11 players got on the scoresheet with their balanced offense and strong defense holding the Lakers to 33.3% shooting for the game.
The Gryphons came in with a game plan to attack the rim against an aggressive Lakers defense as it worked out early and often for the hosts as they were able the drive to the hoop and crash the paint with regularity. Led by Daniel Dooley's eight points in the first half as the birthday boy went 4-6 from the field, the collective shooting of the Gryphons in the first half was impressive as they shot 50% from the field. Guelph was equally impressive on the defensive end as they held the isolation heavy offense of the Lakers to 27.6% shooting from the field as they were able to create turnovers, attacked the boards and hustled to win a lot of loose balls in the half. The Gryphons led 39-22 heading to the halftime break.
The third quarter was a much different story offensively for the Gryphs as they got away from establishing the paint and attacking the rim. They may have settled for too many jumpers as they went 3-18 from the field in the quarter. Despite the struggles on the offensive end in the quarter, Guelph remained strong on the defensive end as they held the Lakers 5-16 from the field to maintain their double digit lead. The hosts went back to the formula that made them successful in the first half and attacked the rim doing their damage in the paint. Third year player, Drew Walford came off the bench and led the charge on the defensive end and on the offense leading Guelph with 18 points. Walford's night was capped off with a steal and a backwards two handed dunk to give Guelph their second win of the season.
Eleven players for Guelph scored with Daniel Dooley pouring in 12 points and the bench contributing with 41 points, including Walford's 18 points.The game ended with a special moment for first year player and Engineering Systems and Computing major, Nathan Klassen as he came on late in the game to make his first career regular season appearance for the Gryphons. His teammates got him the ball and in dramatic fashion Klassen scored his first career basket as he hit a buzzer beater to end the game and was subsequently mobbed by his teammates. The Gryphons will look to improve on their performance as they will be in Hamilton next Saturday, November 28 to face McMaster.
Source: Guelph Gryphons
Tan scores 26 in win over Laurentian
Henry Tan put together another solid game, and got help long the way from some familiar faces to drive the Thunderwolves past the Voyageurs, 77-68.
Dinkins proved to be more than Laurentian defenders could handle, as he scored on 8 of his 9 shot attempts for a total of 17 points with 9 rebounds.
Both teams shot the ball poorly overall from behind the arc, Laurentian 8-of-27 and the 'Wolves just 6-of-27. Lakehead out-rebounded Laurentian 37-26, but turned the ball over 17 times.
For the visitors, Sam Hirst scored 19 points with 5 rebounds while David Aromolaran finished with 18 points. Aromolaran was impressive early, with 12 points in the first quarter.
"We started the game off slow and it stayed that way for most of the first half. We made some adjustments the 2nd half and our guys responded well."