M-BASKETBALL WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Gaels hang tough in loss to Gee-Gees

ttawa 91 @ Queen's 81 (Saturday)

The Gaels (5-12) wrapped up their final regular season home game with a strong second half performance in their 91-81 loss against the No. 2 Ottawa Gee-Gees (16-1) this Saturday night at the ARC main gym. 

Patrick Street (Etobicoke, Ont.) led the Gaels with 22 points whileCy Samuels (Vaughan, Ont.) picked up a double-double performance with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Gaels had a big night from rookies Tanner Graham (Kingston, Ont.) who scored 17 points and Sammy Ayisi (Toronto) who scored 10 points. The Gee-Gees were led by Johnny Berhanemeskel who scored 24 points and Mike L'Africain who scored 18 points. 

The Gee-Gees exploded onto the court from the tip-off and grabbed the early lead which they never relinquished. The first quarter saw the Gee-Gees begin to pull away as they doubled the Gaels in shooting percentage from the floor and rounded out the quarter ahead 28-13. The Gaels created some resistance for the Gee-Gees in the second quarter but Ottawa stayed well ahead outscoring Queen's 22-14 and heading into the second half up 50-27. 

After the halftime break the Gaels gained some traction on the court increasing their field goal percentage to 59% and outscoring the Gee-Gees 26-20. Heading into the final quarter of play the Gaels were trailing 70-53 against Ottawa. 

The Gaels had a strong final quarter of play with Street leading the offensive front as the Gaels made their way to the basket  to the tune of 28 points while Ottawa only racked up 21. The No. 2 team staggered as the Gaels hustled to the basket reducing the Gee-Gees lead to 10 points off a three from Tanner with 30 seconds left of regulation time. There wasn't enough time for the Gaels to pull off a comeback and the Gee-Gees topped off the night with a 91-81 victory. 

The Gaels honoured their graduating fifth year athlete Greg Faulkner (Kingston, Ont.) tonight. Faulkner leads the Gaels with an average of 20.7 points a game ranking him No. 6 on the CIS charts.  

"Greg has made a massive impact in practice and on the court since joining the team," commented head coachStephan Barrie. "Many of his past performances have been nothing short of spectacular. Whether we're down twenty or up twenty, he always plays the same way; with the same level of competitiveness and intensity." 

Barrie recalls a game when the Gaels were down by 20 against Western this season and how the leadership Faulkner demonstrated at halftime gave his teammates the energy they needed to comeback in the second half. "He has a tremendous sense of self and it's going to serve him well in the future". 

Source: Queen's Gaels

Friday, February 13

Ottawa 90 @ York 57

The York University Lions men's basketball team lost 90-57 against the No. 2 nationally-ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees on Friday (Feb. 13) at Tait McKenzie Centre.

Guard Johnny Berhanemeskel scored a game-high 27 points, with the 15^th moving him into third place all-time in Ontario University Athletics (OUA) with 1,931 points. He also added six rebounds, four assists and a steal.
 
Despite the loss, the Lions retain their second-place spot in the OUA East standings with 18 points and a 9-8 record. The Gee-Gees remain first place in the OUA North standings with a record of 15-1 and 30 points.
 
The Gee-Gees made an immediate impact in the first quarter, scoring a trio of three-pointers for the opening baskets. The visiting team recorded 13 straight points in the first three minutes.Gene Spagnuolo (Maple, Ont.) broke the streak with the Lions' first basket.
 
Richard Iheadindu (Brampton, Ont.) intercepted a pass from the opposition's court and made the basket. Not long after that, Nathan Culbreath (Kingston, Ont.) intercepted another pass at half court for a basket as the Lions trailed 23-10.
 
An energetic performance in the first quarter concluded with the visiting Gee-Gees leading 33-12.
 
The Lions found themselves outplayed and outscored by the Gee-Gees' continuous three-point shots. The Lions called a timeout four minutes in after being unable to score in the quarter. Culbreath broke the dry spell with a shot from downtown.
 
The halftime score read 64-29 with the Gee-Gees leading comfortably.
 
The visitors continued their domination in the third quarter. Gabriel Gonthier-Dubue made three consecutive offensive rebounds before finally making the basket at 71-32.
 
Phillip Cunningham-Gillen (Hamilton, Ont.) subbed in for Spagnuolo. At 73-32, Gillen made a good steal, stopping a dangerous fast break by the Gee-Gees, and scoring on the counter.
 
The Lions increased their pace in the final five minutes of the quarter with quick attacking transitions. However, several opportunities were squandered with missed shots as the third quarter ended with the Gee-Gees still leading 77-42.
 
At the fourth quarter, the Lions started the game strongly with five quick points. Jon Dulmage(Brantford, Ont.) made a three-point shot after a good ball movement, and Iheadindu followed it up with a fast break layup.
 
Dulmage did well pressuring the opposition's long shot attempts as the Lions recorded more rebounds and steals in their own court, but the talented Gee-Gees, the reigning OUA champions, proved to be too much on the night.
 
For the Lions, Iheadindu recorded 13 points, five rebounds and one steal, and Spagnuolo had 12 points, three assists and one rebound.

Source: York Lions

Nipissing 64 @ Waterloo 91

The Waterloo Warriors hosted their first home game in over four weeks and defeated the Nipissing Lakers 91-64 on Friday night. It was Waterloo's first win after a losing streak of seven games and improves their record to 4-13 in the OUA West. Nipissing is winless in 16 games in their first OUA season.
 
Waterloo started quickly, with an 11-1 lead after just over three minutes played. By the first quarter mark Waterloo was up 26-11. Nipissing kept pace with Waterloo in the second quarter with a late flurry and the half time score was 42-28 in favour of Waterloo. At half time the Waterloo stat line showed no turnovers.
 
Waterloo regained their offensive focus to start the second half and quickly had a lead of 20+ points. Waterloo's largest lead was 30 points at one point in the fourth. The Warriors had both a rebounding and shooting edge as they had 17 offensive rebounds and an overall 39-32 advantage. The Warriors held Nipissing to just 3 of 19 shooting from long range.
 
Myles Charvis (Mississauga) led all scorers with 28 points while adding 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Charvis is now sixth in OUA scoring with 19.8 points per game and fifth in OUA in assists. Jaspreet Gill (Oliver) added 19 points for the Warriors. Mike Pereira (Waterloo) had a career best scoring night with 17 points. Muhammad Anwar (Mississauga) also had a career best of 9 points with 13 minutes on the court.
 
Nipissing had only a a single player in double figures as Jerron Rhodes had 17 points and 9 rebounds.

Source: Waterloo Warriors

Carleton 114 @ Queen's 45

The Gaels (5-11) fell 114-45 against the No. 1 Carleton Ravens (14-2) this Friday evening at the ARC in Kingston. Queen's was without leading scorer Greg Faulkner (Kingston, Ont.) and were no match for the defending CIS champions.  
 
The Gaels were led by Sukhpreet Singh (Toronto) with 12 points and Patrick Street (Etobicoke, Ont.) with eight points. On the Ravens side of the action Gavin Resch put up a game high 22 points followed by Conor Wood with 21 points and Guillaume Payen Boucard with 17 points.
 
The Ravens dominated the court from the tip-off answering every Gaels basket with two of their own to double the Gaels shooting percentage. The first quarter went to the Ravens as they scored 29 points over the 10 points from the Gaels with Carleton guard Gavin Resch wrapping up the quarter with back-to-back threes.   
 
After a slow first two minutes with no baskets from either team to open the second quarter, the Ravens picked up where they left off in the first hitting a 21-1 run. The Gaels found an edge late in the quarter as the Ravens defence staggered and allowed the Gaels through to score 10 of their 11 second quarter baskets in just the last three minutes.Cy Samuels (Vaughan, Ont.) ended the first half with a buzzer beating layup shot, however the Gaels still faced a 58-21 deficit at halftime.  
 
The second half saw the Ravens continue to dominate the court on all fronts with Carleton grabbing 42 rebounds and shooting 74% from the charity stripe. The Gaels struggled to find their way through the tough defence, increasing their free throw percentage after halftime but staying well behind the Ravens. The National Champions were able to watch the seconds count down and, with the sounding of the final buzzer, grabbed their 14^th win of the OUA season.

Source: Queen's Gaels

Windsor 103 @ Algoma 66

Algoma kept it close with the Lancers early in the first. Windsor began to pull away down the stretch, 19-10. Unable to overcome Windsor's tight defense, Algoma trailed 33-14 going into the second. Windsor applied a full-court press, widening the gap to 22. Algoma relied on outside shooting to chip into the deficit, but still trailed 59-33 going into the second half. Algoma got into a rhythm late in the third, exchanging baskets with Windsor, getting within 20. Unable to keep pace with the Number 7 Lancers, Algoma fell 103-66.
 
Windsor is now 12-5 in the OUA West while Algoma falls to 2-15. Rotimi Osuntola Jr. led the Lancers with 25 points. Sean Clendinning and Terrell Campbell both had 11 for Algoma.

Source: Algoma Thunderbirds

Laurentian 73 @ Laurier 65

The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men's basketball team started off hot, but cooled off in the second half as they dropped their second straight game 73-65 at the hands of the Laurentian Voyageurs at the Athletic Complex.

From the opening tip off the Golden Hawks came flying out of the gates, outscoring the Voyageurs in the first half 36 to 27. Unfortunately for the Hawks the tides turned very quickly in the second half, as they were outscored 46 to 29.

Led by forward Sam Hirst of Collingwood, Ont., three of the Laurentian starting five scored in double figures. Hirst scored a game high 22 points, while adding seven rebounds and 3 steals in the game.

The Achilles heel for the Hawks in this game was free throws and points off turnovers.

Laurentian scored more points off free throws than Laurier attempted the whole game. The Voyageurs scored 25 points while Laurier was only able to net 11 of their 21 opportunities from the charity stripe. Hirst alone scored 14 of his 22 points from the free throw line.

Points off turnovers were also a big factor in this game. While both teams had similar numbers in the turnover category, Laurier at 15 and Laurentian at 14, Laurier was unable to cash as many points off of them as the Voyageurs. Laurier could only muster 10 points, while allowing 22 points.

Center Matthew Chesson of Whitby, Ont., led the way for the Golden Hawk as he scored 16 points coming off the bench. For Chesson, the 16 points was a new career-best.

Senior centre Kyrie Coleman of Washington, D.C., also had a solid night, almost netting a double-double as he scored nine points and grabbed 12 of Laurier's 53 rebounds in the game.

With the loss the Golden Hawks' record drops to 6-11 on the season. They sit four points ahead of their crosstown rivals, the Waterloo Warriors for the final playoff spot in the OUA West division

Source: Laurier Golden Hawks

Saturday, February 14

Guelph 69 @ McMaster 82

Some might describe it as winning ugly, but the McMaster men's basketball team went toe-to-toe with a physical group of Guelph Gryphons and came away with an 82-69 victory on Saturday afternoon in the Burridge Gym.

McMaster came out playing the tough defense it has had on display of late, and behind 12 first-quarter points from Taylor Black, grabbed a 22-12 lead after 10 minutes.,

The second quarter was not classic basketball as the Gryphons tried to muscle the Marauders, and the officials were willing to let the teams play. Mac's Aaron Redpath scored six late points to help his team win the quarter 12-11 and carry a 34-23 advantage into halftime.,

Guelph continued to play a very physical style in the third quarter and behind post Ahmed Haroon, who scored nine straight points, got the McMaster lead down to just 51-45 at the end of the quarter.

Both teams were struggling to find some offense, but gave up nothing easy on the defensive end. With McMaster leading 53-49 early in the final quarter, the Maroon got the spark they were looking for as Trevon McNeil scored five of the team's next seven points, including a huge trey, and the lead was back up to double digits at 60-49. 

Now with some breathing space, the Marauders were able to maintain their margin and Guelph could not get closer than nine points for the rest of the contest. ,The final minutes of the fourth quarter turned into a parade to the free-throw line for both teams as the officials tightened up play considerably from the earlier action. Tempers flared late in the game and technical fouls were assessed on both teams, with one of the Gryphons getting ejected.  

Top scorer for the Marauders was Redpath with 21, while Black chipped in 17. Guelph was led by Adam Kemp who scored 21.

McMaster won the battle of the boards 37-23, and actually shot the ball well from the floor with a 52% mark as a team. The Gryphons shot 43% on the day.

The win lifts McMaster to an OUA record of 14 and 3, while Guelph goes to 7 and 10.

Source: McMaster Marauders

Toronto 84 @ Brock 79

The Brock University men's basketball team fell to the hands of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues by the score of 84–79 Saturday afternoon at the Bob Davis Gymnasium.

Prior to the game, the Badgers basketball program honoured their graduating class, which included forward Ryan Flanagan and student therapist Thomas Edwards.

The Badgers had three starters in double figures led by rookie Johneil Simpson(Toronto, Ont.), who led all scorers with a 33-point performance. Dani Elgadi(Waterloo, Ont.) contributed with 22 points and 12 rebounds for the double double, while Matt Marshall (Burlington, Ont.) finished with 11 points in eight rebounds in the loss.

Toronto had four players in double digits, led by Julian Clark who finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Devin Johnson contributed with 18 points and 14 rebounds for the double double, Manny Sahota and Dylan Church chipped in with 13 and 10 points respectively.

For the game, Toronto shot 42.9% (30-for-70) from the field, 26.9% (7-for-26) from beyond the arc, and 81.0% 17-for-21 from the free throw line. Brock shot 38.3% (31-for-81) from the floor, just 23.1% (6-for-26) from beyond the arc and 78.6% (11-for-14) from the charity stripe.

Source: Brock Badgers

Windsor 98 @ Algoma 60

Algoma worked on keeping pace with the Lancers after being downed 103-66 in Friday evening's game. The Thunderbirds kept the match close throughout the first quarter of action before giving up a 12-point deficit heading into the third quarter. The Thunderbirds couldn't keep the pace for the rest of the game, falling to a final of 98-60. Rotimi Osuntola, the Lancers star forward, finished the weekend with 38 points, 17 rebounds, and 2 steals.
 
Windsor is now 13-5 in the OUA West while Algoma falls to 2-16. Terrell Campbell and Sean Clendinning earned 12 points each for the Thunderbirds.
 
Saturday marked the final home game for the women's captain Taylor McAllister, as she will be graduating at the end of the semester. Also graduating is Jamal Mucket-Sobersand Keith Golding.

Source: Algoma Thunderbirds

Western 58 @ Lakehead 67

The Mustangs looked tough for the first quarter, limiting Lakehead to 10 points and their defense near impenetrable. That same defense would start to show cracks as the second quarter wore on, and Lakehead trailed by one point at the break, 29-28.

Lakehead continued to play inspired ball in the second half, especially defensive shut down artist Alex Robichaud, who was tasked with guarding the league's second-best scorer Greg Morrow, who finished the game with 17 points, 6 below his season average.

The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men's basketball team clinched a spot in the OUA playoffs with a win over the winless Nipissing Lakers 93-71 at the Athletic Complex on Saturday night..

The Golden Hawks started off slow, finding themselves tied at 18 after the first quarter, but came out swinging in the second.  With great play on both sides of the basketball, Laurier outscored Nipissing 28 to nine and did not look back as they earned their seventh victory of the season.

With leading scorer Will Coulthard of Oakville, Ont., not in the lineup, the team stepped up and picked up the scoring slack as five players scored in double figures. Four of those five players were starters.

For the second game in a row Matthew Chesson of Whitby, Ont., came off the bench and provided the spark Laurier needed. He tied with Aiddian Walters of Vaughan, Ont., with a team high 17 points, grabbed seven boards, and had a game high four rejections on the night. Walters also had eight rebounds and two steals.

Luke Allin of Chatham, Ont., and Kyrie Coleman of Washington, D.C., each scored 14 points a piece, and rookie freshmen Chuder Teny of Kitchener, Ont., added 11 points in the game.

Nipissing had one bright spot in the game as freshmen Marcus Lewis of Brampton, Ont., had both a game-high in points with 24 and rebounds with 13 (seven offensive and six defensive). Both were career highs for the first year forward.

With the win the Golden Hawks records improves to 7-11 on the season and they officially clinch a playoff berth in the OUA West division. Laurier leads the Waterloo Warriors by two games with two games remaining in the regular season but the purple and gold hold the tiebreaker over the Warriors thanks to their two victories earlier this season.

Source: Laurier Golden Hawks

Laurentian 66 @ Waterloo 68

It was an intense match-up Saturday night as the Laurentian Voyageurs Men's Basketball team took on the Waterloo Warriors in a back-and-forth game that came down to the final minutes. Laurentian made a final push as the clock ticked down, but it wasn't enough as the Warriors took the game 68-66. 

Laurentian struck first as Ryan Bennett sank a jump-shot to put them up by 2 points; not giving up the lead until 2 minutes in when the Warriors were able to take a 6-4 advantage. Waterloo was able to hold onto the advantage for the rest of the quarter and took a 17-13 lead after the first 10 minutes. They were able to extend their advantage to 10 points early on in the second before a timeout was called just past the midway point of the quarter. Laurentian took advantage of the timeout and swung momentum their way to start a comeback, taking the lead with 1:39 left in the quarter. Waterloo was able to shift advantage back their way however, and finished off the half up by 2, 28-26. 

Voyageurs Ryan Bennett led the game with 11 points at the half, with Warriors? Myles Charvis a close second with 10. 

The third quarter saw a close game with Laurentian tying it up early on. Waterloo took back the lead briefly before Laurentian pulled ahead with an 8 point advantage at 5:23 after a jump shot scored by Sam Hirst. Waterloo tied it back up at 3:05 and quickly took back the lead and ending off the third quarter up 45-41.

Waterloo came out strong in the final 10 minutes, pulling ahead of Laurentian by 11 points with 2:13 left to play in the game. Laurentian's Coach Swords called a timeout hoping to give his team some words of wisdom and get them back in the game. The Voyageurs came out fast and soon brought the game back within 2 points with 32 seconds left. They made a final push but were unable to come back and fell 68-66 as the final buzzer rang.

Charvis finished the game with a leading 23 points, as teammate Jon Ravenhorst led Waterloo with 9 of their 27 rebounds on the night. The Warriors shot 43.1% on field-goals, 13.3% on 3-point field-goals, and 66.7% (16-24) on free throws. Bennett led the Voyageurs with 20 points, as Tychon-Carter Newman led the game fighting for 10 of Laurentian?s 37 rebounds. Laurentian went 38.6% on field-goals, 13% on 3-point field-goals, and 61.3% (19-31) on free throws. 

Source: Laurentian Voyageurs

Sunday, February 15

Carleton 87 @ York 45

The No. 1 nationally-ranked Carleton Ravens proved why they are the best team in the country on Sunday (Feb. 15) with an 87-45 victory over the York University Lions men's basketball team at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
 
The Ravens asserted their dominance early and often, taking a 29-11 lead after the first quarter and a commanding 49-16 advantage into the half. The Lions finally found their stroke in the third quarter by matching their total production from the first half, but it was not enough to slow down Carleton, which padded its lead to 75-32 after three and finished with the 42-point win.
 
Carleton's balanced offence produced three players who reached double digits in scoring. They were led by Connor Wood, who poured in 26 points on 9-of-17 shooting, including an impressive 8-of-14 from behind the arc. He also added eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.
 
Thomas Scrubb had 19 points, seven rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal, while Phillip Scrubb chipped in with 13 points, six rebounds and six assists.
 
The Lions were led in scoring by Nidun Chandrakumar (North York, Ont.) with nine points and three assists. Richard Iheadindu (Brampton, Ont.) scored eight points and had two rebounds, one assist and one steal.
 
Despite the loss, the Lions remain in second place in the OUA East standings with a 9-9 record and 18 points, well back of the first-place Ryerson Rams and their 32 points, but also well ahead of both Queen's and Toronto, which have 10 points each.
 
Carleton continues to sit in second place in the OUA North standings with a 15-2 mark for 30 points.
 
The Lions will end the regular season on Wednesday evening (Feb. 15) with a game against the crosstown rival Varsity Blues at the new Goldring Centre beginning at 8pm. They will then play their first playoff game the following Wednesday, Feb. 25.

Source: York Lions