MUSTANGS PREPARE FOR WRIGHT, GEE-GEES IN ALL-ONTARIO SHOWDOWN AT FINAL 8
The No. 4 seeded Western Mustangs will duel with the No. 5 Ottawa Gee-Gees in the third quarter-final of the day at the 2009 CIS Final 8 men's basketball national tournament, presented by Milk, at 6 p.m. on Fri., Mar. 13 at the Scotiabank Place in Ottawa.
After the game, it is certain that one of the three Ontario teams at the tournament will be eliminated from contending for the national title and will move onto the consolation bracket. A non-Ontario team has not won the national title in seven years.
It's likely the winner of the Western-Ottawa quarter-final will face Carleton in the next round. The No. 1 seeded host Ravens face St. FX at 8 p.m. on Mar. 13 in the fourth quarter-final of the day. Carleton has only lost once in the 2008-09 regular season and playoffs, a road loss on the opening day in Windsor.
Western head coach Bradley Campbell said he knows the Gee-Gees will be a tough test.
"We have a tough road ahead, but we're up to the challenge," Campbell said. "Playing Ottawa, we face a very good team and in their own back yard which is basically a home game for them."
Campbell said he expects the Ottawa game to be "a physical type battle where every possession is going to be crucial."
"It will probably be low scoring," he said. "Both teams defend well."
Ottawa was ranked No. 3 in the final Canadian Interuniversity Sport rankings in 2008-09, while Western was at No. 4. Both the Gee-Gees and Mustangs lost their only playoff game to Carleton – Ottawa a 21-point loss in the OUA East Final on March 4 and Western a 14-point loss in the OUA Wilson Cup Final on March 7.
Gee-Gees head coach Dave DeAveiro said he was impressed with the play of Western in the OUA West final over Windsor and is wary of their talent and potential.
Campbell knows that both the Gee-Gees and Mustangs have a tough path to winning the W.P. McGee Trophy.
"And we would see a tough semi-final match-up if we get past Ottawa. If we win a national championship, it's going to be earned," Campbell said. "The way it's set up, we can go to our national tournament and not even play a team from outside our region."
Even though the Mustangs defeated Ottawa by 20 points in the opening weekend of the regular season, the Gee-Gees have since added guard Josh Wright to the roster, who Campbell describes as "a quick and skilled player" who played top minutes with Syracuse in the NCAA. The Utica, N.Y., native was also a two-time New York State All-State selection.
DeAveiro said Wright has been a great addition to the squad and that Wright will play the point guard position for most of the Final 8 tournament.
The Gee-Gees clinched a berth in the CIS tourney thanks to a 73-59 OUA bronze-medal win over Windsor on Saturday.
"We didn't want to let this opportunity slip away," said fourth-year guard Josh Gibson-Bascombe, who scored 24 points against Windsor and was Ottawa's top scorer this season with a 17.6 point-per-game average. "If we didn't bring our A-game the end result could have been different."
The eight-team, single elimination tournament gets under way Friday with the quarter-final round and concludes on Sunday with the presentation of the national final at 4 p.m. The Score Television Network will broadcast the last two first-round duels on Friday evening, including the Western-Ottawa game live at 6 p.m. The Carleton-St. FX quarter-final is on tape delay and will be broadcast at 10 p.m.. The Score will also carry Saturday's semi-finals and the gold-medal match on Sunday.
New national champions will be crowned next weekend as the Brock Badgers missed the OUA playoffs with an 8-14 record after graduating a number of star players following their 2007-08 championship run. Their playoff hopes were crushed by the Mustangs in the final game of the 2008-09 regular season with Western winning 74-71.
The No. 1 Ravens saw their run of five straight W.P. McGee trophy victories – the second longest in CIS history - come to an end a year ago when they dropped a double-overtime decision to Acadia in the semi-final round. Carleton led 13 of 14 national coaches polls this season – UBC led for one week – and hasn't lost to a CIS opponent since an 80-68 defeat at Windsor in its conference opener back on November 7.
Western lost in the other 2008 semi-final to eventual champions Brock.
Source: Western Mustangs Athletics
Photo Credit: Craig Glover