November 27, 2014

M-BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: Queen's holds on late for 86-84 win over York

Wednesday, November 26

McMaster 83 @ Western 77

LONDON, Ont - Despite pulling things to within three points late in the fourth, a late push from the Mustangs came up just short, losing 83-77 to McMaster in OUA men's basketball action on Wednesday night at Alumni Hall.

"We didn't play great from a focus standpoint in the first half. We got it a little bit together in the second half and gave ourselves a chance to win it," said Mustangs head coach Brad Campbell. "Offensively, we started to make some shots and get some things going. I think we got a little momentum, our confidence started to grow from making those shots, and we really fought hard to try and win that game."

McMaster snapped the Mustangs three-game winning streak, moving Western's record to 4-3, good for a three-way tie for first place in the OUA West with Windsor and Laurier. While the Marauders broke the Mustangs string of consecutive victories, Wednesday night's win was McMaster's fifth 'W' in a row, keeping the CIS' fourth-ranked team in first place in the OUA Central Division standings.

Both teams had strong offensive performances, with Marauder player Joe Rocca scoring a game-high 17 points and six other players joined Rocca in scoring double digits. The Mustangs followed close behind with five players hitting the double digit numbers as Anthony Spiridis topped the team with 16 points, eight of which were in the fourth quarter. Captain Quinn Henderson followed close behind with 14 points, while also adding four steals to provide help on the defensive end as well.

Lots of squeaks were heard on the court with both teams shuffling and playing at a fast pace to begin the contest. The Marauders were able to get deep in the key and sink their layups with little Mustang defence to stop them early on while on the other end of the court the purple and white found themselves unable to finish the baskets from the perimeter. The Marauders took advantage of these bounces off the board to grab 18 rebounds in the first quarter, helping them to take an 18-9 lead after the opening frame.

The second quarter saw the Marauders warming up to the arc, focusing on their three-point shots and attempting eight more long distance attempts than in the first. Mustang veteran Quinn Henderson answered back with three three-point shots of his own, also contributing three steals and two turnovers for his team's defence.

However, it seemed that the Marauders height advantage made an inch of difference by the net as they were able to grab rebounds by their fingertips over the high jumps of Morrow and the like. Despite both sides remaining relatively even on the scoreboard in the second, the Marauders finished the first half with a 10-point lead at 38-28.

The Mustangs momentum grew after they got back on the court from halftime. Jedson Tavernier came to play in the second half scoring an early three-pointer and grabbing rebounds to help the Mustangs claw their way back throughout the final 20 minutes of play.

McMaster caught on to the heightened Mustang offence and fought harder against the home team, beginning a full-court press and challenging them outside the. When their offence was in action, the Marauders were able to spot narrow spaces to pass the ball to an awaiting teammate in the paint ready to follow through. While Western took the third quarter 19-18, the Marauders opening quarter advantage remained, giving the visiting side a 56-47 lead heading into the final frame.

The Mustangs defence continued to improve in the fourth quarter, grabbing the rebounds that would have slipped out of their hands in the first. Anthony Spiridis played strong from start to finish in the quarter, making an early steal to start an and-one play for Morrow and racking up eight points in the quarter, all while rocking a very spirited Movember stache.

With the combined defense of Spiridis, Morrow and Tom Filgiano, the home side continued to close the cap, pulling within three at 71-68 after a layup from Filgiano with 2:37 remaining. The tension rose as the Mustangs raced against the clock as they attempted to tie things up, however the Marauders were able to match Western nearly basket for basket heading down the stretch. Despite staying within the five point range within the last minute, the Marauders held on to walk away with an 83-77 victory.

Western will now get set to take on the Brock Badgers this weekend, when the welcome the OUA Central's second place team in what should be an exciting contest.

"They're a high-scoring team and like to play in high scoring games," said Campbell. "We've got to get back to defensively doing what we do, try to keep the score down and specifically get ready for Brock and do what we can to prepare for them."

Tip-off for Saturday's game against Brock is scheduled for 8 p.m. at Alumni Hall, and can be watched live on OUA.tv.

Source: Western Mustangs

York 84 @ Queens 86

KINGSTON, Ont. (November 26, 2014) – The Gaels men's basketball team (1-4) got their first win of the OUA season on Wednesday night against the York Lions (2-4) beating them 86-84 at the final buzzer.

The Gaels were led by Greg Faulkner (Kingston, Ont.) with 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Queen's saw strong performances from Ryall Stroud (Toronto) with 13 points and Mike Shoveller (Arnprior, Ont.) with 12 points as well as both rookies Jesse Graham (Kingston, Ont.) and Tanner Graham (Kingston, Ont.) who chalked up 10 points each. Despite the loss, Nick Tufegdzich from the York Lions led all scorers with 25 points followed by Nathan Culbreath with 24 points, both of whom grabbed nine rebounds.

It was a fast first quarter with both teams struggling for the lead. The Gaels pulled away thanks to Shoveller's offensive dominance as he contributed 10 points to their 27-21 first quarter lead. York kept it close throughout the rest of the half but the Gaels maintained their lead feeding the ball into the Lions key. Stroud topped off the half, receiving a steal from Sammy Ayisi (Toronto) under the basket and completing it as the second ran out putting the halftime score at 52-43 for the Gaels.

It was a sloppy start to the second half with York getting the first points on the board starting to close the gap. The Gaels found their footing and hit a 6-0 run with Jesse Graham getting ahead of the Lions defence to sink two consecutive shots. Going into the final quarter the Gaels held onto the lead, ahead by a three point margin.

The final frame saw the Gaels struggle to maintain their lead as York turned up the heat. Both teams traded shots from the floor as the Lions pushed ahead only to have the Gaels regain the lead not long after. York didn't let Queen's get comfortable shrinking the gap to a two point lead with 48 seconds left. With 11 seconds on the clock the Lions had a chance to inbound the ball and grab the win with a three pointer. The Gaels shut down their attempts and secured a 86-84 win.

"It's a learning experience." said head coach Stephan Barrie regarding the struggle the Gaels faced. "There are a lot of things that didn't go well enough but at the end of the day, they hung around and it's good to finally be on the other end of one of these games. Knowing that we didn't take the game, but rather both teams left it wide open, we need to take care of things right away on Friday."

The Gaels will try to win their second game of the season on November 28 when they host Algoma University at 8:00 pm in the ARC Main Gym.

Source: Queen's Gaels

Laurier 83 @ Waterloo 81

Ali Validipak (Richmond Hill) hit a three from the corner and gave Waterloo a 4 point lead with just 56 seconds left in the game, but Waterloo could not score again and the visiting Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks escaped with an 83-81 win at the PAC on Wednesday night. Will Coulthard hit a huge basket with 3.1 seconds left to seal the victory in what was a very entertaining contest.

The game was back and forth all night with 15 lead changes and 13 ties in the game. Waterloo had a 10 point lead at one time in the third quarter at 49-39. An 8-2 run by Laurier brought that margin down quickly. Laurier's largest lead in the game was six points at 75-69 with 4 minutes remaining in the game. Waterloo answered that with a 7-0 run to take the lead back.

The final minute of play was intriguing as Laurier's Jacks Simmons hit a clutch basket late to cut the lead to two. A steal and layup by Garrison Thomas tied the score before Coulthard took a late shot to put Laurier up 2. After a time out and the ball in the front court, Waterloo had 3.1 seconds left, worked the ball to Myles Charvis (Mississauga) for a shot from the arc above the key but the shot hit the front rim and Laurier had the win by scoring the game's last six points.

Myles Charvis (Mississauga) led the Warriors with 26 points and Ben Davis (Mississauga) had a career best of 19 points with 9 rebounds. Ali Validipak (Richmond Hill) had his second best scoring output with 17 points.

Will Coulthard, who led the comeback when the Golden Hawks were down 10, scored the game-winning basket and led the Golden Hawks with 26 points. Jack Simmons added 16 points while former Warrior Kyrie Coleman added 8 points and 8 rebounds for the purple and yellow.

The Warriors, who started off the game hitting 4 of their first 5 three point shots, ended the game shooting 47%. They also made it to the free throw line for 33 attempts, making 23 of them. Laurier held the rebounding margin, with enough offensive rebounds for many second chance points.

With the loss, Waterloo ends the pre-exam portion of the schedule with a 1-6 record and they are in fourth place in the OUA West. The top three teams in the division make the playoffs in February. The next games for Waterloo are January 9th and 10th when the division rival Algoma Thunderbirds come to visit.