AROUND OUA: Mustangs fall to rival Lancers in OUA West tilt
LONDON, Ont - The Lancers broke out in the final two frames on their way to a 78-72 victory over the Western Mustangs at Alumni Hall Saturday afternoon.
SCOREBOARD
Mustangs fall to rival Lancers in OUA West tilt
LONDON, Ont - The Lancers broke out in the final two frames on their way to a 78-72 victory over the Western Mustangs at Alumni Hall Saturday afternoon.
"They just kept knocking down their threes" said Greg Morrow. "We were a little late on rotations sometimes. Sometimes we messed up our defensive strategies. There was a little lapse in the third where we could have picked up our energy but it was a tough game to lose"
"We knew coming in that they shoot the most three's in Ontario and that's a big part of their offence," added head coach Brad Campbell. "We had to make sure that not only did we play their action properly, but we had to keep the ball out of the middle. In the third quarter we fell asleep on some things that were out fault."
The Mustangs record is now 9-9, keeping them in second place of the OUA West. Windsor's victory puts their record at 12-6, extending their winning streak to seven games and keeping them first place in the West. They sit six points ahead of the Mustangs going into the final weekend of regular season games.
Morrow and Peter Scholtes# were one-two in scoring for Western, recording 28 and 27 points, respectively. Morrow shot 56.5% from the field in the contest, followed by Scholtes at 55.5%. Tom Filgiano continued to lead the purple and white defence, grabbing eight rebounds and making seven of them on the defensive front. The Scholtes and Morrow duo registered 10 rebounds combined.
Four Lancers recorded double digits in Saturday's contest, with Alex Campbell contributing the most with 24 points. He was followed by Isiah Osbourne with 19 points, three of which were three-point shots, and Tyler Persaud and Mike Rocca were next with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Their defence relied largely on Campbell, who recorded nine rebounds, as well as Persaud, who had eight.
Although Western opened the game with six straight points, the combined efforts of Osbourne and Campbell gave the Lancers the edge throughout the rest of the first frame. Morrow put his name on the board with 10 of the teams 15 points in the frame while Osbourne recorded 13 for Windsor. The Lancers took the lead at the first buzzer with a score of 22-17.
The Mustangs strengthened their defence in the second, making more plays in the key to prevent the Lancers from making their baskets. They only allowed the Lancers to score a total of four times in the second frame, outscoring them 15-9 to take the lead at 32-31 at the end of the first half of play.
After only scoring nine points in the first half, Scholtes was determined to keep the Mustangs close in the second, scoring the first nine points in the third frame before Morrow eventually contributed eight points. Western would catch up from a seven point deficit, tying the game at 45-45, altohugh the Lancers pushed late to end the frame up 54-50.
Despite adding four three-point shots in the final frame to try to decrease their deficit, Western couldn't close the gap, and Osbourne sealed the deal with a dunk at the buzzer to close out the game at 78-72.
"This team fights and we're not laying down- we're not going to give up or quit in any manner," said Campbell. "I know our guys are high-character guys and they're going to fight. They believe they can win and they're going to keep going right until the end, and that's the way we're going to play."
"We're going to fight till the end, that game wasn't over until the time ran out," added Morrow. "I thought we just came short, a couple shots didn't go in for us, a couple of defensive rotations, a couple of strategies that we have to go over and get better at. I thought we put forth a good effort, it was just a tough loss for us."
The Mustangs final two games of the season are scheduled at home starting with the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Friday, February 26 at Alumni Hall. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. and can be watched live at OUA.tv.
Source: Western Mustangs
Marauders win big on Seniors Day
McMaster's men's basketball team paid tribute to three senior players, and then unloaded a first-half barrage of 3-point shots to defeat the visiting Laurentian Voyageurs 85-66 Saturday night in Hamilton.
The Marauders recognized Troy Joseph, Leon Alexander, and Aaron Redpath before the game, for their contributions to the McMaster men's program.
McMaster knew it was in for a tough game, against a Laurentian team that had taken Brock to overtime the night previous, and came out with intensity. Before the game was five minutes old, Mac was in front 16-5 and Laurentian was looking for answers. Marauders Rohan Boney, Troy Joseph, Connor Gilmore, and Aaron Redpath all connected from beyond the arc to grab the early lead. The Voyageurs did close the quarter with a run of their own, so that after 10 minutes the Marauder advantage was just 23-16.
McMaster kept hitting from long range in the second stanza, getting long bombs from Joseph and Gilmore, along with Dave McCulloch and Trevon McNeil to bump the lead up to 43-21. Again, Laurentian finished the quarter with a flurry and scored three late hoops to trim the deficit to 43-27 at intermission. The Marauders drained 9 of 18 attempts from behind the 3-point line over the first 20 minutes.
Laurentian came out in the third quarter and showed some grit. McMaster cooled off from long range to start the third and the Voyageurs closed to within 12 points to make the crowd at the Burridge Gym a little nervous. But Troy Joseph nailed another trifecta, and Lazar Kojovic got in on the fun by hitting one, and the lead moved back up to 18. The McMaster margin was 68-49 heading to the fourth quarter.
Laurentian's Sam Hirst had a very strong second half scoring 18 points, but McMaster was getting points from a variety of sources and the maroon lead was not really challenged. The teams played an even fourth quarter, as McMaster was able to clear the bench and close out the 19-point win.
Troy Joseph led Mac scoring with 17, followed by Gilmore with 16, Redpath with 14 and Leon Alexander, who scored 13. Hirst had a game-high 20 for Laurentian. McMaster ended up making 12 of 31 attempts from 3-point range for the game, with seven different Marauders knocking down triples.
Next up for the Marauders is a key clash versus the Brock Badgers on Wednesday, February 24th at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. for the contest which could decide which team gets a first-round bye in the upcoming OUA playoffs.
Source: McMaster Marauders
Memorable Seniors Night win for Gee-Gees
The Gee-Gees men's basketball team enjoyed almost a perfect seniors' night, winning its final regular season home game 109-79 over the Laurier Golden Hawks while receiving significant contributions from its four senior players.
Fifth-year point guard Mike L'Africain led all scorers with 23, at the head of the pack of six Gee-Gees in double-digit scoring. L'Africain had 15 in the first half alone, also counting five assists in the opening twenty minutes. That set up a countdown in the third quarter, with all eyes on the point guard's distribution.
Midway through the third quarter, with Ottawa leading by twenty-three, L'Africain picked up his 380th career assist on a bucket by fellow fifth-year Vikas Gill, passing Josh Gibson-Bascombe at the top of the all-time records list at uOttawa. L'Africain finished the night with 10 assists in the contest.
"I told Mike I wanted it too," laughed Gill, who has shared the floor with L'Africain for their five seasons in garnet and grey. "He said, alright we'll see what I can do. When I heard it announced it was a really special moment – I love that kid."
"It's my favourite stat, so it's a perfect one for me to get," said L'Africain. "These guys want me to be successful and vice versa, so it makes it easy because everyone is unselfish."
"We play better anyway when guys are just catching and shooting off of Mike's penetration," noted Gee-Gees head coach James Derouin. "So we talked about [the record] but I don't think we changed anything to get him there. Mike had another awesome game tonight. The record is his and its well-deserved."
Another senior night highlight was Zach Traer opening the game with a pair of threes. The three-pointers were falling for the whole team in the first quarter – five of the first six went down - opening up a 31-9 lead.
"There's no better feeling, especially getting one from Mike to help him out on his special night with the assists," said Traer. "For me, I've taken a different role and I am fine with that because I know I'm part of this family."
"Zach hitting those shots set the tone that something good was going to happen tonight," said Derouin with a smile. "Zach's a huge part of our team and it was really great to see him hit those shots tonight."
Mehdi Tihani was also recognized during senior night, and finished with 11 points and two assists.
Laurier's younger guards Chuder Teny and Sydney Davis brought some energy and dropped shots to make it 33-20 at the end of one. The pair finished with 12 points apiece, while Vlad Matovic led the Hawks with 16 points and eight rebounds.
The early lead held for Ottawa, and only grew as the game went on. The Gee-Gees shot 54 per cent in the game and cracked the 100-point plateau with five minutes left to play. The final point tally is the regular season high for the garnet and grey.
"It really celebrated the five years," said Gill. "When I subbed off it hit me that it's almost over, and it was a little surreal."
Source: Ottawa Gee-Gees
Thunderbirds upset Gaels at home
In their final home game of the season and in their annual Seniors' Night game, the Algoma Thunderbirds took on the Queen's Gaels. The men's team flew past the Gaels in their biggest upset of the season, 71-60.
In the men's game, the home team drew the first blood, jumping out 4-0. Both teams battled back and forth with Algoma edging ahead, 12-5 early on. Evenly matched, both teams went shot for shot, with Algoma clinging to a 3-point advantage going into the second.
Back to back threes from Queen's tied the game at 21. Sean Clendinning drained a three at the two-minute mark and 2 consecutive blocks from Reng Gum helped Algoma edge ahead 32-27. A jumper from Brett Zufelt with six seconds left gave Algoma their biggest lead of the game going into the second half.
The fast pace continued into the third with Algoma holding strong. The Thunderbirds went 3-4 from the charity stripe in the final seconds to pull ahead 56-47 going into the final 10 minutes. A shot from inside from Jacob Clendinning allowed Algoma to break the 10-point threshold. Queen's struggled to get the ball to fall while Algoma continued to drive widening the margin to 16. The Thunderbirds upset the Gaels, winning their fifth game of the season, 71-60.
All three captains of the squad led the team in points. Sean Clendinning led the squad with 24 points and 3 boards. Barber chipped in with 18 points followed by Zufelt with 12. Reng Gum had 10 boards in the win. Sukhpreet Singh from Queen's earned 15 baskets.
The men improve to 5-13 in the West and Queen's falls to 10-7 in the East.
Zufelt and Barber were honoured this evening in the Seniors' Nights game. They will be graduating at this year's June Convocation ceremony. Zufelt will graduate will from Business Administration with a minor in Marketing. Barber will earn a Sociology degree.
Source: Algoma Thunderbirds
Ravens crack century mark in big win over Warriors
(OTTAWA, ON) — Six men's basketball players reached double figures in a relentless 105-40 victory over the Waterloo Warriors on Senior Night at the Ravens' Nest.
Carleton paid tribute to senior players Gavin Resch (Ottawa, ON) and Guillaume Payen Boucard (Montreal, QC) prior to the team's regular season home finale, and the Ravens co-captains enjoyed one more farewell memory with a dismantling of the visitors on their home court.
Led by a 19-point effort from fourth-year guard Kaza Kajami-Keane (Ajax, ON), the Ravens (14-3) reached the 100-point plateau for the second time this season.
Carleton's suffocating defence held Waterloo in check in the first quarter as the Ravens went up 27-5 after one. The Ravens continued their attack on the Waterloo basket with a 31-point effort in the second. Kajami-Keane's game-high 19 points came in only ten minutes of floor time before the intermission, as the Carleton playmaker sat for all but one minute in the second half.
Ahead 58-16 at the break, Rob Smart relied on his reserves for heavy minutes in the third and fourth quarters. The Ravens bench rewarded their coach's faith with a reliable and consistent effort on both ends of the floor to close out the contest.
Several players made solid contributions in the Ravens' one-sided win, including freshman Marcus Anderson (Brampton, ON), who tied a career-high with 10 points (along with a career-high 11 rebounds) to help him reach his first double-double as a member of the team. Sophomore Mitch Jackson (Regina, SK) also achieved his first CIS double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Ravens forward Ryan Ejim (Toronto, ON) nearly collected his own double-double with a 10-point, 8-rebound effort.
The Ravens held the Warriors to a season-low of 19.4% (13-67 FG) from the field. Carleton's 65-point win against Waterloo tonight is their largest margin of victory over an opponent since a resounding 114-45 triumph over Queen's (Feb. 13/15) last season.
Carleton will close out the regular season on the road next weekend against Laurentian and Nipissing.
With the OUA playoffs set to start in just under a fortnight, a strong finish should see the Ravens receive a first-round bye and a home playoff game in early March.
Source: Carleton Ravens
No. 7 ranked Badgers down Lakers
ST. CATHARINES, ON - The No. 7 ranked Brock University men's basketball team defeated the Nipissing Lakers by the score of 86–69 Saturday night at the Bob Davis Gymnasium.
Brock jumped out to an early 17-4 lead in the opening five minutes and led 50-29 at the half.
In the third quarter, Brock extended their lead to as many as 28 points, on route to their 25th victory of the season. With the victory, head coach Charles Kissi moves into 4th spot all-time for most wins in a Brock single season.
The Badgers had five players in double figures led by Dani Elgadi (Waterloo, ON) who finished with 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. Zachary Angelini (Hamilton, ON) contributed with 13 points, while Matt Marshall (Burlington, ON), Johneil Simpson (Toronto, ON) and Ryan Bennett (Toronto, ON) chipped in with 12, 11 and 11 points respectively. Rookie Tyler Brown (Hamilton, ON) added nine points and five assists in the victory.
Nipissing was led by Wil Konybai who led all scorers with a game-high 16 points. Also in double digits were Marcus Lewis (13), Kalil Langston (13) and Joey Puddister (12).
The Badgers shot 47.8% (33-for-69) from the field, 30.8% (4-for-13) from three-point land and 84.2% (16-for-19) from the charity stripe. Nipissing went 21-for-56 (37.5%) from the floor, 3-for-12 (25.0%) from beyond the arc and 85.7% (24-for-28) from the free throw line.
The Badgers return to action Wednesday night at 7:30pm when they host divisional rival McMaster Marauders at the Meridian Centre.
Source: Brock Badgers
Tan drops 28 in Thunderwolves win over Toronto
Henry Tan was efficient in running Lakehead's offense against the U of Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday, scoring 28 points and leading his team to an 88-77 win.
Tan didn't do it alone, though. Bacarius Dinkins opened up with 12 points in the first quarter, in what looked like was going to be a romp for Lakehead, as they were ahead 25-13 after 7 minutes of play. To the chagrin of coach Manny Furtado, the Blues took advantage of some sloppy defense by the 'Wolves reserves in the final three minutes of the first quarter and drew within five, Lakehead up 28-23 after 10 minutes.
Toronto made a late push but ultimately couldn't get the defensive stops they needed. Henry Tan continued his solid play in the final quarter to finish with 28 points, 7 assists and 2 rebounds. Bacarius Dinkins had 17 points and 12 rebounds while Alex Robichaud, who was honored pre-game, gave the Thunderdome fans he's played in front of for 4 years a proper send-off with four 3-pointers for 12 points and 3 boards.