AROUND OUA: Lakehead upsets No. 7 ranked Brock 75-64

SCOREBOARD

Brock 64 @ Lakehead 75

Toronto 68 @ York 79

Ryerson 101 @ Queen's 77

Laurentian 77 @ Ottawa 92

Nipissing 59 @ Carleton 102

Algoma 64 @ Waterloo 69

Laurier 87 @ Guelph 80

Lakehead upsets No. 7 ranked Brock 75-64

The Lakehead men's basketball team (3-7) took down the #7 Brock Badgers (5-4) tonight 75-64.

Both teams came out strong and ready to play in the first quarter tonight. Brock showed why they are one of the top teams in the leaque but the Thunderwolves were up for the challenge, never backing down. Lakehead finished the first quarter leading 19-18.

Similar story for the second and third quarter as the 'Wolves continued to battle with the Badgers. Brock gained a slight lead in both quarters but Lakehead did not give up and always continued to tie it back up. The Wolves were tied at the half 35-35.

Down one 50-49, the fourth quarter is where the 'Wolves really shined as they outscored Brock 26-14. Alex Robichaud and Henry Tan made some big shots that really sealed the win for the Thunderwolves.

Henry Tan led the 'Wolves with 21 points along side Alex Robichaud who put up 17 points. Mor Menashe had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds and Bacarius Dinkins had 10 points, 8 rebounds.

"Really proud of our guys tonight. We competed, and made some key plays when we needed to. Now we need to focus on the recovery and begin preparation for game 2 tomorrow." – Coach Furtado

The 'Wolves will battle the Badgers once again tomorrow at 8:00pm in the Thunderdome.

Source: Lakehead Thunderwolves

Lions get back in the win column with victory over Varsity Blues

Two streaks came to an end on Friday afternoon as the York University Lions men's basketball team earned a big 79-68 victory over the cross-town rival Toronto Varsity Blues at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
 
The result snapped both a six-game losing skid by the Lions and a four-game winning streak the Blues carried into the contest. The Lions improved to 3-6 on the year and stole an important two points from their OUA East Division rivals, while the Blues dropped to 7-4 this season.
 
The Lions led from wire-to-wire and wasted no time pulling ahead, scoring the first seven points of the contest and leading 19-13 after the first quarter. The home team continued to pull ahead in the second, outscoring the Blues 29-14, and carried a commanding 48-27 advantage into halftime.
 
The third quarter began in similar fashion as the Lions continued to pour in the points, and half way through the frame their lead had grown to 25 points at 60-35. But the Blues did not back down and the Lions suddenly went cold, and with 6:34 remaining in the fourth quarter the gap narrowed to just six points with the Lions holding on at 66-60.
 
That was as close as the Blues would get, however, as Nidun Chandrakumar (Scarborough, Ont.) scored a big three-pointer with 3:30 left to put the game out of reach. Chandrakumar finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists, including going 3-of-5 from behind the arc.
 
Brandon Ramirez (Scarborough, Ont.), the reigning OUA and U Sports male athlete of the week, finished with 19 points and chipped in with five rebounds.
 
Also scoring in double digits were Jayden Frederick (Scarborough, Ont.) with 13 points and Matthew Carating (Mississauga, Ont.) and Julio Vazquez (Toronto) putting up 12 points apiece.
 
Toronto's leading scorer was Daniel Johansson with 16 points and he also had a game-high nine rebounds.
 
The Lions have a tough game coming up with the No. 3 nationally-ranked Ryerson Rams, the defending OUA champions, coming to the Tait McKenzie Centre on Saturday night. Tip-off is set for 8pm.

Source: York Lions

Rams offence too much to handle for Gaels

KINGSTON, Ont. – The Ryerson Rams men's basketball team used a strong second half to surge over the Queen's Gaels 101-77 on Friday night in Kingston.

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The Rams got out to a quick start in the first quarter, leading by as many as 14 in the opening ten minutes, but Queen's made some adjustments and put together a solid second quarter. Ryerson led 27-17 after the first but the Gaels defence stymied the Rams at times in the second.

Queen's got to within one point at 32-31 with 4:50 left in the half but that was as close as they would come. The Rams lead ballooned back to ten before the half closed at 43-36 in favour of the visitors.

The Gaels defence entered Friday's game ranked fifth in the OUA in terms of points allowed, but Ryerson's top offence opened up the floodgates in the second half.

Ryerson racked up 32 points in the third quarter alone to put the game out of reach before wrapping up the onslaught by surpassing the 100-point plateau for the third time this season.

Juwon Grannum recorded his first career double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Manny Diressa and Adika Peter-McNeilly each finished with a game-high 21 points in the win.

The Rams move to 10-0 on the season while Queen's drops to 6-3. Ryerson is back in action on Saturday night when they visit the York Lions with tipoff scheduled for 8:00 p.m. from the Tait McKenzie Gym.

Source: Ryerson Rams

Maracle rises up in win over Laurentians

The Gee-Gees men's basketball team received a regular season career high 21 points from forward Brody Maracle to highlight a 92-77 victory over the Laurentian Voyageurs on Friday night.

Maracle made his presence felt early, scoring nine points in a closely contested first quarter. By night's end, the third-year from Napanee, Ont. sported a 7-for-11 field goal performance and a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line alongside five rebounds.

Ottawa's post presence did not end at Maracle with Jean Emmanuel Pierre Charles adding 19 points and nine rebounds. Gee-Gees head coach James Derouin acknowledged that the inside game was the focus for Ottawa against Laurentian's guard heavy lineup.

 "That's where we're at our best and when we got the ball down there it was excellent tonight," said Derouin, noting the combined 17-20 shooting performance of the big man duo.

Laurentian was able to stay within reach of Ottawa throughout the first half, trailing 43-36 at half time. David Aromolaran led the visitors with 20 points while season scoring leader Kadre Gray was held to 13.

 "Our first quarter and fourth quarter defence was not at the standard of defence that we want to play. Our one-on-one defence particularly let up at some points – we kept relaxing and they made us pay every time," added Derouin.

Adam Presutti chipped in with 16 points including several buckets to return Ottawa from those relaxed stretches. Patience and exemplary ball-movement against the Laurentian zone defence in the third quarter kept the Gee-Gees offence chugging, stretching the lead out to 62-45 on a 20-9 run.

The win moves Ottawa to 8-0 in regular season play and extends the team's overall winning streak to 17 games. The Gee-Gees host Nipissing (4-7) on Saturday night at 8 p.m.

Source: Ottawa Gee-Gees

Ravens cruise past Nipissing to improve to 8-0

OTTAWA, ON — Carleton's perfect regular season remains intact after a thorough team performance saw the nation's No. 1 team brush aside divisional foe Nipissing, 102-59, on Friday evening at the Ravens' Nest.

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In what has been a common occurrence in 2016-17, the Ravens received standout efforts from their senior backcourt tandem of Connor Wood (Guelph, ON) and Kaza Kajami-Keane (Ajax, ON), who finished the contest with 19 and 18 points, respectively. Leading the charge up front against the Lakers was rookie Eddie Ekiyor (Ottawa, ON), who continued to show his game-by-game improvement by finishing with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists.

The Ravens extended their unbeaten run in OUA regular-season play to eight games, with Friday's final score resulting in Carleton's largest margin of victory this season.

Nipissing was powerless to stop Carleton's potent offence in the first, as the Ravens posted 30 points to lead the Lakers 30-10 after one. Kaza Kajami-Keane erupted for 10 in the quarter, while Wood sunk two triples and jumper for eight points in the frame.

Carleton continued to be aggressive on the offensive end in the second quarter, as TJ Lall (Cambridge, ON) hit a few open looks to extend the Ravens' advantage to 51-21 after two. Carleton knocked down seven three-pointers (7-13 3PT-FG) in the first half, making Nipissing pay for its 13 turnovers in twenty minutes of play.

With a 30-point cushion entering the third, the Ravens' Smash Bros – Ryan Ejim (Toronto, ON) and Eddie Ekiyor – took it upon themselves to abuse Nipissing's rim with an array of powerful slam dunks that set off loud roars of approval from the Carleton faithful. The Ravens would go up 76-33 heading into the fourth quarter, where the Lakers would see their evening end in disappointment.

Sophomores Stanley Mayambo (Frederiction, NB) and Yasiin Joseph (Ottawa, ON) made the most of their minutes with breakout scoring performances. Mayambo went 4-of-5 from downtown in the game to finish with a season-high 14 points, and Joseph tallied a career-high with 10 points (4-7 FG). Meanwhile, guard Emmaunel Owootoah (Rexdale, ON) impressed with a team-high eight assists to go along with five points.

As a collective unit, Carleton set season-highs with 56.6% shooting from the field, 53.8% efficiency from beyond the arc, and a generous 32 assists while only turning the ball over six times.

Carleton hosts the Laurentian Voyageurs on Saturday evening in what should be an intriguing matchup between the two OUA North division members.  The Ravens will look to extend their winning streak to a nine games to start a season for the first time since the 2013-14 campaign.

Source: Carleton Ravens

Hodzic shines in win over Thunderbirds

Nedim Hodzic (Waterloo/Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary) put together an incredible 37 minutes of action on Friday night at the PAC as the Warriors took down the Algoma Thunderbirds 69-64 for their second win of the season.  

The rookie forward put up 22 points, going 10-for-19 from the field while adding an impressive 18 rebounds in the win.  Hodzic now sits ninth in the OUA with 77 rebounds on the season and 18th in points with 145.  Also getting involved in the offence was senior, Jon Ravenhorst (Sarnia/Sarnia Northern) with 12 points while Mike Pereira (Kitchener/Resurrection Secondary) had 11 and 16 rebounds.  

The Warriors shot 40.3% from the field compared to just 28.6% for theT-Birds while also out rebounding the visitors 50-42.  The difference in the game came in the third quarter where Waterloo outscored Algoma 23-12 on route to the five point win. The two teams will be back at it tonight at 8pm.  Catch the game live on OUA.tv.

Source: Waterloo Warriors

Gryphons comeback falls short, Hawks spoil GGAC opener

GUELPH, ON - After calling the W.F. Mitchell Centre home for the past 60 years, the Gryphons men's basketball team officially tipped off a new era of Gryphon basketball on Friday night with their first game at the new Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre. However, the visiting Laurier Golden Hawks would spoil the party, jumping out to an early lead and never looking back en route to an 87-80 victory over the Gryphs. With the loss, the Gryphons fall to 3-6 on the season while Laurier improves to 6-7.

The Gryphons found themselves in a hole early on, as the Hawks put up 28 points in the opening quarter to take an eight-point lead to the 2nd quarter. Leading the way for Laurier on the night was rookie guard Tevaun Kokko. The Markham native led all scorers with 23 points on the evening and scored 10 straight points for his team during a stretch that spanned the late stages of the 1st quarter and opening stages the 2nd quarter. That scoring outburst from Kokko pushed Laurier's lead over Guelph to 13. The slow start by the Gryphons in the first half meant the team would be forced to play catch-up the rest of the evening. 

Leading the comeback charge for the Gryphs on Friday night was fourth year guard Taylor Boers, who was an impressive 5-for-8 from beyond the arc and finished with a team-high 17 points. Daniel Dooley added 14 points and 7 assists off the bench while Ahmed Haroon recorded his first double-double of the season, finishing with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Despite outscoring Laurier 29-20 in the final quarter the Gryphs, who trailed by 16 points heading to the 4th, were unable to climb out of the early hole and as a result suffered their third straight loss in league play. 

Containing Laurier's backcourt duo of Tevaun Kokko and Chuder Teny was a struggle for the Gryphs Fridya night. Kokko scored 18 of his 23 points in the opening half while Teny poured in 18 of his 22 points in the second half. The Gryphons were also outrebounded 46-31 on the evening.

Friday night's game marked the first of back-to-back games for the Gryphons, who on Saturday will host the No. 10-ranked McMaster Marauders (5-5). McMaster enters Saturday night's game fresh off of a 31-point victory over Laurier on Wednesday.

Saturday night's matchup between the Gryphons and Marauders can be seen live online at www.oua.tv.

Source: Guelph Gryphons