MEN'S BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: McMaster, Windsor, Ottawa and Carleton will compete for Wilson Cup
Western 49 @ McMaster 83
HAMILTON, Ont. - The McMaster men's basketball team used a third-quarter explosion to defeat the Western Mustangs 83-49 on Saturday afternoon and advance to the OUA Final Four for the first time since 2012.
Western was ready to play on the heels of a playoff upset at Lakehead, and the Mustang game plan of slowing the tempo and gong inside for high percentage shots gave McMaster some trouble in the first quarter. Western's Eric McDonald hit a fall-away shot at the buzzer and the Mustangs held an 18-15 lead after 10 minutes.
Looking confident to start the second quarter, Western bumped the lead up to 24-17 and McMaster was still searching for answers. The Mustangs called a timeout with the seven-point lead, perhaps concerned about fatigue, but it allowed the Marauders to regroup. Coming out of the timeout, McMaster got seven straight points from Leon Alexander to tie the game. Trevon McNeil knocked down a three-pointer to give McMaster the lead and suddenly Western was hanging on. McMaster continued to harass the Mustangs on defence and ran the lead up to 31-24 at the intermission. From the time Western called timeout McMaster went on a 16-0 scoring run.
Now playing with the lead, McMaster opened the third quarter with baskets from Rohan Boney and Taylor Black to get the advantage into double figures. Aaron Redpath knocked down consecutive three-point shots and Western had no answer as the Maroon lead kept growing. The Marauders outscored Western 33-13 for the quarter to lead 64-37 heading to the final stanza.
The fourth quarter saw the Mac advantage get to over 30 and with five minutes left, Western started to clear the bench, with McMaster following suit. With the reserves for both sides getting some playing time, McMaster was able to win the quarter 19-12 and complete the 34-point victory.
As usual McMaster had a very balanced attack, led by Taylor Black who scored 18 while grabbing 11 rebounds for the double-double. Aaron Redpath with 14, Leon Alexander with 13, and Trevon McNeil with 10 were other Marauders in double-figures. Top shooter for Western was Peter Scholtes with 16.
After a slow start, McMaster shot 63% from the floor in the second half to finish with an overall mark of 51% for the game. The Mustangs only made 31% of their field goal attempts. McMaster also won the battle of the boards 42-25.
The Marauders now advance to Friday night's opening round of the OUA Final Four being held at Ryerson's Mattamy Centre. Game time and opponent are to be determined.
Source: McMaster Sports Info
Laurier 68 @ Windsor 91
The No. 7 Lancer men's basketball team advanced to the OUA Wilson Cup Final Four with a 91-68 victory over the Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday afternoon at the St. Denis Centre.Â
Fifth year forward Lien Phillip had a game high 28 points and the game's only double-double with 10 rebounds. Enrico Diloreto had 18 points, Josh Collins chipped in 11 points, and Evan Matthews contributed 10 points.Â
The Lancers used their size to dominate in the paint, finishing the game shooting an impressive 48.6% from the field and grabbing 53 rebounds.Â
This is the second consecutive year that the Lancers have qualified for the final four tournament. Windsor will be looking to improve on last year's performance when they fell to the Lakehead Thunderwolves in the bronze medal game.
Fans who wish to cheer on the Lancers at the Mattamy Athletic Complex can purchase tickets online at www.ticketmaster.ca, or by phone by calling 1-855-985-5000.
Source: Windsor Sports Info
Laurentian 77 @ Carleton 111
The Carleton Ravens are off to Toronto next weekend for the 2014 OUA Final Four and the Wilson Cup.
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Carleton punched their ticket for next weekend’s basketball showcase on Saturday night with a solid 111-77 win over the Laurentian Voyageurs at the Ravens’ Nest.
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The Ravens, the Ottawa Gee-Gees and two others from the West division will meet at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre on Friday, February 28 and Saturday, March 1 to crown the league’s best.
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Two semi-final games will be played on Friday night with the Wilson Cup final and bronze medal match-ups being disputed on Saturday.
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“It’s going to be tough weekend with three other very good teams,” said Tyson Hinz.
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“Tonight’s win against Laurentian was a total team effort, but we still need to work on several things defensively. We shouldn’t let them score 20 points in the opening quarter and another 23 in the third.”
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The Ravens were in command of the OUA east semi-final from the opening tip-off as they scored 33 points in the opening quarter compared to Laurentian 20 to gain healthy 33-20 lead.
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At halftime, Carleton was up by 25 points, 60-35 with the Ravens executing to perfection.
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The Voyageurs showed some life in the third quarter matching the Ravens in point production with 23 but the Ravens still held a commanding 83-58 lead.
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The final frame featured the Ravens racking up another 28 points and at the same time smothering and shutting down the Laurentian attack.
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Hinz (Ottawa, ON) paced the Ravens with 27 points and 9 rebounds. Philip Scrubb (Richmond, B.C.) had 16, Kevin Churchill (Toronto, ON) 15, Connor Wood (Guelph, ON) 14 and Clinton Springer-Williams (London, ON) 13.
Source: Carleton Sports Info
Ryerson 78 @ Ottawa 79
OTTAWA, Ont. – For the second year in a row the Ryerson Rams men’s basketball team had their hearts broken in Ottawa as they came out on the wrong end of a 79-78 hard fought OUA east semifinal on Saturday night.
In arguably the most intense and highly competitive game of the OUA season, the two nationally ranked teams battled point for point from start to finish and the game came right down to the wire.
With 4.6 seconds remaining on the clock and Ottawa leading 77-75, Gee-Gees sophomore Caleb Agada (Burlington, Ont.) knocked down a pair of free throws – after going 0-for-3 in the game prior to that – to ice the victory for Ottawa and send them back to the Wilson Cup Final Four championship.
The Rams started the game strong, opening up an 11-6 advantage after a JV Mukama (Hamilton, Ont.) floater in the lane dropped with 5:50 to play in the first quarter. Ottawa responded and took their first lead of the game when Mike L’Africain (Oakville, Ont.) finished in the lane and added a free throw to make it 20-18. The Gee-Gees finished the frame with a 22-20 advantage.
In the second, Ryerson’s Jordon Gauthier (Windsor, Ont.) sparked the Rams with eight straight points including back-to-back three pointers and Ryerson regained the lead at 32-28 with 6:10 to go in the quarter. After the teams traded buckets at a furious pace, Ottawa closed the quarter on a 6-0 run to take a 45-40 lead into the halftime break.
Ottawa utilized the three pointer effectively in the third quarter to open up a 62-57 lead late in the frame before some confusion rounded out the quarter. Rams guard Jahmal Jones (Mississauga, Ont.) was fouled as the buzzer sounded and the teams went to their benches for the quarter break. However, the foul was Ottawa’s fifth of the quarter and Jones should have shot free throws. The referees discussed the situation during the break and eventually rewarded Jones his shots and the quarter officially ended with Ottawa leading 65-60.
Ryerson opened the fourth with the first four points to cut the deficit to just one and from there the teams traded baskets down the stretch. Free throws from Gabriel Gonthier-Dubue (Gatineau, Que.) with 1:25 remaining gave the Gee-Gees a four point lead at 75-71 but Adika Peter-McNeilly (Scarborough, Ont.) responded with a tough pull up jumper.
With a minute to go, Johnny Berhanemeskel (Ottawa, Ont.) got a tough runner in the lane to drop to make it a four point game again and after exchanging missed shots, Jones came down the floor and was fouled going to the hoop. He converted his two free throws with eight seconds remaining to set up Agada’s heroics from the line at the other end. Bjorn Michaelsen (Otterburn Park, Que.) rounded out the scoring with a buzzer-beater three pointer but it was not enough as Ottawa escaped with the one point victory.
Ottawa’s Terry Thomas (Dartmouth, N.S.) finished with a game-high 28 points to lead the Gee-Gees while Peter-McNeilly had a team-high 23 points in the loss for Ryerson. Jordon Gauthier had his best game of the year with 20 points and 11 rebounds for the double-double.
With the win Ottawa will return to the OUA Wilson Cup Final Four championship next weekend, February 28 and March 1, at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.