AROUND OUA: Lakers beat Guelph to earn fourth straight win

Make it four in a row, make it .500 and make it a red hot Nipissing Lakers men's basketball team.

AROUND OUA: Lakers beat Guelph to earn fourth straight win
February 4, 2017

SCOREBOARD

Guelph 69 @ Nipissing 79

York 58 @ Toronto 79

Lakehead 67 @ Laurentian 73

Western 79 @ Algoma 67

Queen's 59 @ Ryerson 70

Lakers beat Guelph to earn fourth straight win

Make it four in a row, make it .500 and make it a red hot Nipissing Lakers men's basketball team.

The Lakers used a dominant start and hot shooting early on build up a big cushion as they cruised to a 79-69 victory over the Guelph Gryphons Friday night.

The Lakers led 22-5 after the opening 10 minutes thanks to an 18-0 run to begin the game and while Guelph pushed back late, Nipissing played well down the stretch and picked up the win.

The win has Nipissing at 8-8 and in a spot to host a playoff game, if the season were to wrap up today.

Regardless of the standings at this point, the Lakers are one of the hottest teams in the OUA and Friday night was an example.

Four players ended up in double digits, including Marcus Lewis' team-high 15 points, Marvin Ngonadi added 12, Justin Shaver had 11 points and nine rebounds and Ismael Kaba put up 10 in the win.

After the great start for Nipissing, the second quarter was far more even, as the Gryphons held an 18-17 advantage, but still trailed by 16 at halftime.

Nipissing extended the lead in the third quarter after posting 26 points.

After 30 minutes of play, the Lakers led 65-40 and while they allowed 29 in the final quarter, they held on for the victory.

The fourth quarter aside, it was a complete effort from the Lakers and moving forward, they'll need more efforts like Friday night's to continue to climb the OUA standings.

Up next is Lakehead, with tip-off set for 8pm at the RJS Athletic Centre.

Source: Nipissing Lakers

Blues drop Lions in School Day action

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's basketball team picked up an impressive 79-58 School Day victory over rival York Lions on Friday afternoon (Feb. 3) at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

With the win U of T improves to 10-5 on the season further entrenching themselves into second place in the OUA East division.

Scoring over 20 points for the 10th time this season, fifth-year forward Devin Johnson led all players with 23 points, going 8-for-14 from the floor in the convincing Varsity Blues victory. Johnson also added five rebounds, one steal, and one block.

Three other U of T players scored in double-digits as guards Sage Usher and Chris Barrett both recorded 11, with forward Manny Sahota picking up 10 points and seven rebounds.
 
Following a back-and-forth first half, Toronto's second half defence also proved to be a difference-maker holding the Lions to just eight points and 18 per cent shooting from the field in the third quarter. The Varsity Blues utilized the stifling period to create a large gap outscoring York 26-8 in the frame allowing them to close the door on the Lions in the fourth.
 
York forward Brandon Ramirez led all Lions scoring 22 points en route to a double-double with 10 rebounds. 

The Blue and White now challenge the Queen's Gaels tomorrow evening (Feb. 4) at the Goldring Centre in a very important matchup for playoff positioning. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. with the game also being streamed live on OUA.tv.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues

Western takes down Algoma on the road

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – Twenty points from Omar Shiddo helped lead the Western Mustangs to a 79-67 win over the Algoma Thunderbirds on Friday night at the George Leach Centre.
 
The win improves Western's record to 4-11 on the season, snaps the Mustangs recent two-game losing streak, and puts the team into a tie for third in the OUA West alongside Algoma who hold an identical 4-11 record.
 
Shiddo's 20-point performance is one off his season-high of 21, a mark he set back on January 6 at home against the Queen's Gaels. Three other Mustangs hit double digits in the win, with Eriq Jenkins contributing 11 points while Cam Morris and Ian Smart each adding 10.
 
The first quarter was a tale of two halves, with the Mustangs jumping out to a 19-3 lead after the first five minutes, however the Thunderbirds stormed back in the latter portion of the first, scoring 14 points to cut Western's lead to 19-17 after 10 minutes.
 
Western respond to Algoma's run with a dominant second quarter, starting things off with a 9-0 run before keeping the Thunderbirds scoreless for the majority of the frame. Western closed out the half with a 13-2 run to take a 43-25 lead after two quarters.
 
Algoma closed the gap in the second half, outscoring Western 19-18 in the third and 23-18 in the fourth, but the Mustangs early lead was too much to overcome with the purple and white earning a 79-67 win.
 
Western will wrap-up their weekend schedule on Saturday night with another contest against Algoma. Game time is set for 8 p.m. at the George Leach Centre, and fans can tune in to all the action live on OUA.tv

Source: Western Mustangs

Rams remain perfect on home court

TORONTO - Following an opening half where he was held pointless, Ryerson's Ammanuel Diressa (Toronto) picked up 16 points in the last twenty minutes to propel the Rams to a 70-59 victory over the Queen's Gaels in OUA men's basketball action at the Mattamy Athletic Centre Friday night.

BOXSCORE

Juwon Grannum (Mississauga, Ont.) added 13 points while Keevon Small finished with 11. Myles Charvis (Mississauga, Ont.) and Adika Peter-McNeilly (Scarborough, Ont.) each collected 10.

Queen's Tanner Graham finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds while teammate Sukhoreet Singh also had 13 points in the losing effort.

The Gaels came out hot and had Ryerson on their heels early. A few big shots by Singh and Sammy Ayisi put Queen's up 21-19 after the first quarter.

In the second, the offence dried right up. Neither team seemed to be able to get anything to go in what was a grimy ten minutes of basketball. Although the two sides combined for just 12 points in the quarter, the Rams went to the locker room up 27-25.

Tied at 40 with less than three minutes remaining in the third, a beautiful play by Diressa and Keevon Small (Montreal, Que.) got the large home crowd back into the game. A nice steal by Diressa resulted in a two-on-one situation for him and Small back the other way. Diressa drove towards the hoop from the right side, dished a behind-the-back pass to Small and the first year forward slammed it home to put Ryerson up two points.

They didn't look back from there. A huge three pointer with seconds remaining in the quarter by Diressa made it 51-45 for Ryerson after 30 minutes of action and gave the Rams the momentum that they needed. They extended their advantage early in the fourth and went on to the eleven point victory.

The win boosts Ryerson's record to 9-0 at home and 15-1 overall this season. Queen's, meanwhile, extends their losing streak to eight and falls to 6-9.

The Rams return to Coca-Cola Court next Friday when they host the Toronto Varsity Blues (10-5) in a battle of the top two teams in the OUA East division. Game time is 8:00 p.m.

Source: Ryerson Rams

Voyageurs hold on for third straight win

The Voyageurs Men's Basketball team was in search of a third straight victory tonight in their contest against the Lakehead Thunderwolves. Coming off an impressive road trip, the Vee's hoped their excellent play would follow them back home for their final home weekend of the regular season. The squad started off the weekend on the right foot, defeating the Thunderwolves 73-67. 

Laurentian got off to a slow start in the game unable to find their stride on offense. Lakehead looked equally sluggish as both squads struggled to score in the quarter.
It was in the second quarter that the Vee's strong offensive game came back to them. Following a switch in their attack plan that focused on interior shots, LU took control of the game. The relentless effort in the paint seemed to stun the Thunderwolves as their offense looked weaker as time expired in the half.
The Voyageurs continued their dominance following the break. The team expanded the offense past the three point line to spice up their already hot attack. On defense, Laurentian was able to prevent Lakehead from organizing any type of plays often leading to a Thunderwolves turnover.
Things began to fall apart for the Vee's in the fourth. Gone was their ability to drain to open shots, replaced with uncharacteristic turnovers and fouls. Lakehead took full advantage of LU's sloppy play, cutting the once 20 point lead down to two. In the end the Voyageurs were able to stave off the Thunderwolves comeback sealing their third straight W.
The Voyageurs had four players score double digits led by Kadre Gray's 18 points. Thunderwolves guard Henry Tan led all scorers with 24 points in the contest.
The Vee's will play their final regular season game at the Ben Avery tomorrow, facing off against the 4-11 Guelph Gryphons. The action gets underway at 8PM.