AROUND OUA: Western tops Lakehead for first win of the season

SCOREBOARD

Western 53 @ Lakehead 51

Carleton 93 @ Algoma 65

Waterloo 78 @ York 83

Laurier 68 @ Queen's 80

Nipissing 64 @ Ryerson 84

Laurentian 87 @ Toronto 97

Western tops Lakehead for first win of the season

THUNDER BAY, Ont. - Nikola Farkic recorded 15 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to help drive the Mustangs to a 53-51 victory against the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Friday night.

The victory marks the Mustangs first of the season, updating their record to 1-3 and placing them in a tie for second place with Algoma and Laurier. Lakehead's record moves 1-3 placing them in fourth in the OUA Central Division.

Farkic led the team with 15 defensive rebounds, making two steals and going 3-3 at the three-point line. Eriq Jenkins followed, recording 11 points to help seal the deal for the Mustangs.

Four Thunderwolves recorded double digits in the contest, with Alexandre Robichaud leading with 12 points while Bacarius Dinkins, Kache Kopec, and Darnell Curtain all added ten.

Lakehead dominated the first quarter preventing the Mustangs from scoring double digits, taking the lead at the buzzer at 15-9.

The second frame followed suit with both teams exhibiting strong defence. The Mustangs were able to tie the game at 15 when Jenkins grabbed his own rebound to score with just under five minutes left in the half, giving Western the momentum they needed to outscore the Thunderwolves 11-4. With the late burst, Western headed into the half with a 20-19 lead.

The score went back and forth in the third frame as the teams wrestled for the lead. The Thunderwolves recorded 11 rebounds in the frame compared to the Mustangs nine, yet two back-to-back three point shots by Farkic and Cam Morris allowed Western to keep their lead at 38-36.

Lakehead's offense returned to their first frame form by the final ten minutes of the game, keeping pace with the 15 points posted by the Mustangs, but couldn't recover from the earlier deficit.

The Mustangs kept the score in their favour and walk away with a 53-51 victory.

Western returns to home court on Wednesday, November 23 to face the Laurier Golden Hawks at Alumni Hall. Tip-off is at 8:00 p.m., and can be watched live on OUA.tv.

Source: Western Mustangs

MBB: Ravens blanket Algoma for win in 2016-17 OUA opener

SAULT STE. MARIE, ON — The Carleton Ravens men's basketball team opened up their 2016-17 OUA regular season with a convincing 93-65 victory over the Algoma Thunderbirds on November 18.

The Ravens began the first quarter with some ferocious defensive plays, turning stops into easy points at the other end. Joe Rocca (Sarnia, ON) scored 8 points in the opening quarter, leading a Ravens team that came to play. Carleton was firmly in control of this game by the end of the first, holding a 21-10 lead.

The Thunderbirds came back strong to start the second quarter, closing the lead to just nine points. A coast-to-coast layup by Ravens guard Kaza Kajami-Keane (Ajax, ON) halfway through the second quarter put the Ravens back up by double-digits, but Thunderbirds guard Adam Benrabah hit a well-timed and-1 triple to close the gap yet again, this time to just six points.

The Ravens and Thunderbirds traded baskets to close the quarter, including a thunderous dunk by Ryan Ejim (Toronto, ON) of the Ravens, his second of the game.

After a late push by the Ravens, they went into halftime up 47-29. Kajami-Keane led all scorers with 13 points in the first half, while teammate Connor Wood (Guelph, ON) led the way defensively with 4 steals.

Rebounding numbers told the story of the game, with the Ravens outrebounding the Thunderbirds 23-11 in the opening half.

Connor Wood hit two triples to start the second half of the ballgame, giving Carleton a 20-point lead, and the Ravens never looked back. Carleton kept a comfortable lead for the remainder of the game, never letting the gap close below 20.

Nathan Riley of the Thunderbirds got his home crowd riled up with a buzzer beating triple to end the third quarter, but the game was already out of reach.

Even with a 22 point lead going into the final quarter, the Ravens did not let up on defense. Carleton pushed their lead to 30 points and ended the game by giving their less experienced players some court time.

The story of the game was Carleton's suffocating defence, which held the Thunderbirds to just 39.3% from the field. Algoma was unable to get their offence going, and the Ravens easily cruised to their first regular season win of the 2016-17 season.

Kajami-Keane led the way for Carleton with 24 points and 5 assists, while Connor Wood and Ejim added 16 and 14 points, respectively. TJ Lall (Cambridge, ON) provided a nice spark off the bench with 12 points and a steal.

Connor Wood and teammate Marcus Anderson (Brampton, ON) combined for 9 steals in the game, wreaking havoc on the Thunderbird wings. The Thunderbirds were led by Jermaine Lyle with 13 points.

After their dominant first win of the regular season, the Ravens will play next in Thunder Bay, ON, taking on the Nipissing Lakers.

Source: Carleton Ravens

Lions hang on in win over Warriors for 2-0 start

The York University Lions men's basketball team hung on down the stretch for an exciting 83-78 victory over the visiting Waterloo Warriors at the Tait McKenzie Centre on Friday night to win their second straight game to start the season.
 
Jayden Frederick (Scarborough, Ont.) led the way with an impressive double-double, putting up 25 points and 11 rebounds to lead all Lions in both categories.
 
Nidun Chandrakumar (Scarborough, Ont.) looked loose in the first quarter when he stormed the key and flipped the ball behind his back for a no-look assist. The very next offensive possession he drained a deep three to keep the Lions in contention with a very efficient Warrior offence.
 
Matthew Carating (Mississauga, Ont.) set the bar high when he pick-pocketed a Waterloo player and advanced the ball into their end. From here he dribbled inside, posted up and spun back to the outside hitting the shot with a floater off the glass while also drawing the foul.
 
Even with all of the Lions' success the Warriors were accurate with their shots and the quarter ended with a score of 22-20 for the Lions.
 
In the second quarter the Lions looked to build off of a solid first period of play. Frederick blew up in the second as he scored 11 off of his clean shot selection and execution at the charity stripe. The Lions would move on to outscore the Warriors 21-14 in the second quarter and the half would end with a score of 43-34.
 
With a comfortable lead entering the third quarter the Lions were looking to pad it with their explosive and relentless play. Chandrakumar put four points up in the third quarter to help the Lions move into the quarter with a 62-51 lead.
 
The Warriors dug deep inside themselves to rally back from an 11-point deficit and take the lead with approximately two minutes left in the game. Gehrig Carlse (Scarborough, Ont.) combated this when he fought threw swiping hands to lay in the basket to make the game 77-76 for the Lions.
 
The Lions clung to a three-point lead with a minute and thirty seconds left until Brandon Ramirez (Scarborough, Ont.) hit two more free throws to push the lead to five points. With 32 seconds left and the lead back to only three for the Lions the crowd stood, anxiously waiting for something to push the Lions over the hill and get their second straight win. The Warriors made things interesting late, but the Lions found away to get the win.
 
Frederick was one of four Lions to finish in double digits in scoring. Ramirez put up 17, while Chandrakumar had 13 and rookie Ammar Hassan (London, Ont.) had 11 points.
 
The Lions will play again on Saturday night (Nov. 19) when the Laurier Golden Hawks travel to Toronto to try an end their undefeated streak. Tip-off is 7pm.

Source: York Lions

Four Gaels hit double-digits in points in 80-68 home opening win

KINGSTON, Ont. (November 18, 2016) - The Queen's Gaels (2-1) stayed ahead after the opening quarter to comfortably defeat the Laurier Golden Hawks (1-3) 80-68 in their OUA home opener on Friday night at the Queen's Athletics and Recreation Centre.

GAME FLOW
The Gaels started off the game on a 7-0 run to take an early advantage at home. The Golden Hawks fired right back with four shootings rattling off 10 straight points for Laurier to put them in front 10-7. The first quarter closed out with a low scoring defensive 14-14 showing.

In the second quarter Queen's began to start taking over the game. Isse Ibrahim (Toronto) nailed a pair of jumpers, and the Gaels added another five to go up 25-18 and forcing Laurier to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, Tanner Graham (Kingston, Ont.) began to take over the game. Both teams went nearly two minutes without a bucket before Tanner threw down a dunk, one of a handful on the night. He then scored eight of the Gaels next 10 points, nailing a three, followed by a jumper and then sending the ARC into a frenzy as he threw down another dunk while drawing the foul on the play, converting the free throw.
 
At halftime, the Gaels sat comfortably ahead 39-28. The Gaels played a balanced game the rest of the way with contributors coming from across the lineup. The Gaels stretched their lead out to as many as 19 at one time before settling with an 80-68 final score to improve to 2-1 on the season.

Queen's had four players hit double digits as Tanner, Sukhpreet Singh (Toronto), and Ibrahim each dropped 15 points while Russell Winters (Long Island, NY) added 11 points going 4-4 off the bench.

FINAL SAY?
"I think defensively we just kept pressuring the ball with good execution and offensively we did a good job of not turning the ball over. After the loss to York, we all pulled together to play more as a team, and that has shown through the last two games." - Sammy Ayisi.

BY THE NUMBERS
1114 - Career points for Singh, just 32 behind Mike Scotten for third in franchise history
32.1% - The Laurier shooting percentage for the game, 15 percent below what the Gaels shot
5 - Blocks for Tanner who also had six rebounds, two assists and one steal

UP NEXT 
The Gaels are back in action tomorrow afternoon as they host the Waterloo Warriors at the ARC with a 4pm start time. For ticket information visit www.gogaelsgo.com/tickets or watch the game live on OUA.tv.

Source: Queen's Gaels

Rams knock off Lakers in home opener

TORONTO – The Ryerson Rams men's basketball team survived a late fourth quarter scare to win 84-64 over the Nipissing Lakers on Friday night for their first victory on Coca-Cola Court since winning the OUA championship back in March. 

BOXSCORE

Adika Peter-McNeilly led the way for the Rams with a game-high 18 points over 34 minutes of work.  He went 6-13 from the field but picked up a big time block and an impressive 10 rebounds.  He was content with the way he played but ecstatic about the return to Coca-Cola Court.

"It felt good.  It's been a long time since the OUA Final Four just to feel the atmosphere.  Having the Ram Pack there and having your family in the audience…it was pretty good," said Peter-McNeilly following the win.  "I still have to work on my three's but overall I think I did pretty good…just cut down on my turnovers."

Other notable mentions include Manny Diressa who had 14 points, as well as Filip Vujadinovic and guard Myles Charvis who each contributed with 13.  Vujadinovic deserves some extra attention with his complete performance off the bench Friday night.  Head coach Roy Rana was quite pleased from what he saw out of the third year. 

"He does a lot more than just shoot the ball.  He's just becoming more mature," said Rana.  "You can see it.  His emotions are in check, he's playing with a lot more confidence and when he plays like that he helps us out in a lot of different ways."

The Rams stormed out of the gate thanks to an electric atmosphere and energy supplied by the home faithful.  A 21-point first quarter was followed up with a 31-point second quarter to send the Rams into the half with a huge 52-26 lead. 

Rams' Juwon Grannum was about as precise as you can get from the floor going 4-5 in the half and picked up two offensive rebounds in the process.

A well executed third quarter boosted the Rams' lead to 32 before the fourth, but being up big seemed to affect the Rams a tad in the final 10 minutes.  The Lakers stormed back with a 23-point finish but the Rams regrouped to come out on top. 

"We want to make sure we don't start to develop bad habits when we're up big and that's the most challenging time to stay disciplined," said Rana.  "We got a little undisciplined in the fourth quarter but you know, it didn't hurt us."

The late fourth quarter push from the Lakers went for naught as the Rams hung on to win 84-64 win in front of a packed MAC in the home opener. 

Guards Peter-McNeilly and Keevon Small put up incredible numbers on the glass, an area of work that is often left for the big men to take care of.   The relationship between the movement of the bigs and smalls is crucial for the Rams moving forward and worked to a tee Friday night. 

"It's collective…our bigs are doing a good job taking guys out of the play and our guards are coming and cleaning it up," said Rana.  "It has to be a collective effort on the glass and it's encouraging to see our guards rebounding the way they are."

The Rams will look to improve to 4-0-tomorrow night with the Laurentian Voyageurs coming to town for a scheduled 8:00 p.m. tip off at the MAC.  Both the women and men's OUA championship banners will be raised marking an historic night for Ryerson Athletics that you won't want to miss.  If you can't make it to the game, you can stream it via OUA.tv, courtesy of Rams Live.

Source: Ryerson Rams

Usher's career high paces Blues to win

Five players hit double digits as the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's basketball team defeated the Laurentian Voyageurs 97-87 on Friday, November 18 at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.
 
Third-year guard Sage Usher led the Blues with a career-high 19 points, going 4-for-8 from the floor and 8-for-8 from the free throw line, while adding seven rebounds and seven assists on the night.
 
Second-year forward Daniel Johansson tallied 18 points, six rebounds and two assists, with fifth-year veteran Devin Johnson also adding 18 points, three boards and three assists. 
 
Vancouver native Chase Ruttenberg recorded 12 points, with sophomore Christopher Barrett adding 11 points. Kwasi Otwi-Awere and Reilly Reid notched eight and nine points, respectively, in the win.
 
The Blues got out to an 11-6 lead thanks to six early points from Johansson but the Voyageurs put together an 8-0 run and went onto build a narrow 24-23 lead after the first quarter. Usher paced the Blues with seven points as they outscored the Voyageurs 25-13 in the second to take a 48-37 advantage into halftime.
   
Johnson added nine points in the third quarter and a buzzer beater from Barrett put the Blues up 73-56 heading into the final frame. Laurentian brought the game within six (85-76) but an Usher three and Johansson jumper secured Toronto's second win of the season.
 
Kadre Gray led all players with 30 points in the Voyageurs loss.
 
The Varsity Blues return to action tomorrow night as they host the Nipissing Lakers at Goldring Centre. Tip off is set for 8 p.m. Advance tickets are on sale here. The game will also be streamed live on OUA.tv.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues