AROUND OUA: Blues fall to Lions in overtime; two teams tied heading into final day
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's basketball team dropped a 97-93 overtime decision to the York Lions on the road Friday night (Feb. 26).
SCOREBOARD
Blues fall to Lions in OT; tied heading into final day
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's basketball team dropped a 97-93 overtime decision to the York Lions on the road Friday night (Feb. 26).
With the loss, the Blues (5-13) are now tied with the York Lions (5-13) for third place and the final playoff space in the East. Toronto heads to Queen's for their regular season finale, while the Lions travel to take on the Ryerson Rams. A Toronto win over Queen's and York loss to the Rams would push the Blues into the post season.
After a shaky first half which saw the Blues trailing the Lions 38-32 at the break, U of T went on a hot streak outscoring York 25-16 in the third quarter.
Then in the fourth, OUA scoring threat Devin Johnson delivered a 17-point quarter, including a game-tying layup with just seconds left to send the game into overtime.
However, in the OT period the Varsity Blues were unable to sustain their late game momentum, dropping the tightly contested game by four points.
Johnson and rookie guard Devon Williams led the Blues with 25 points each, with Johnson completing the double-double with 11 boards.
Sophomore guard Sage Usher had 18 points and five assists, while Wilson Torres added nine points in the loss.
Source: Toronto Varsity Blues
Wood leads Ravens past Voyageurs
(SUDBURY, ON) — Despite receiving a stiff challenge at the Ben F. Avery Gymnasium on Friday evening, the Carleton Ravens men's basketball team defeated Laurentian 87-67 to win its fifth consecutive game.
Connor Wood (Guelph, ON) and Guillaume Payen Boucard (Montreal, QC) were game changers for the Ravens (15-3), who took a while to pull away from Laurentian. The home side remained close up until Carleton's third-quarter sprout which helped the visitors leave Sudbury unscathed.
Wood went 7-for-15 from distance and scorched the Voyageurs for 25 points. Payen Boucard had a very efficient contest with a 7-for-8 shooting night, while also converting on 8 of 9 free throw attempts for 23 points.
Laurentian kept Carleton at bay in the first half, something that the V's had not been able to do in a match-up earlier in the season.
Former Raven Anthony Iacoe was a thorn in Carleton's side all night – a clear indication that the guard was eager to put on a show for some of his former teammates. Iacoe scored 27 points while finishing 8-for-15 from beyond the arc, posting one of his top scoring games of the season.
Wood and Iacoe went back and forth in the opening twenty minutes, the latter scoring 17 points, while Wood went for 16 in the game's early stages.
Carleton used a 21-8 rebounding edge to provide the the team with a 46-39 halftime lead.
The Ravens broke the game open in the third quarter thanks to a 3-point onslaught, courtesy of Connor Wood and fifth-year senior Gavin Resch (Ottawa, ON), which lifted Carleton to a 19-point advantage heading into the final frame.
Payen Boucard nailed a rare three-pointer to start the fourth, and he continued his impressive effort throughout the quarter, ending the game with six of the Ravens' final nine points.
Carleton will close out the regular season in North Bay tomorrow night as the Ravens take on the Lakers (8 p.m.).
Source: Carleton Ravens
Marauders end regular season with win over Guelph
McMaster men's basketball played its final OUA conference game and defeated the Guelph Gryphons 89-76 in Guelph on Friday night. While the Marauders had already clinched a playoff bye going into the game, the Gryphons were still fighting to make it into the post-season.
The Marauders trailed 15-10 midway through the opening quarter, but outscored the Gryphons 10-3 to end the period to take a 20-18 lead after 10 minutes. Trevon McNeil had a strong start to the game with 8 points in the first quarter.
The teams continued to jockey back and forth in the second stanza, and a late hoop from the Gryphons provided the home team with a 37-36 lead at the half of a contest they were desperate to win.
The Marauders went on 9-2 run to start the third quarter, forcing Guelph to call a timeout, but McMaster kept up the pressure and drove the lead up to 54-41 after the Gryphon break.
The defensive pressure that the Marauders brought resulted in numerous Guelph turnovers and the maroon lead was 63-51 by the end of the third quarter.
The final quarter was played fairly even and the Gryphons were unable to mount the comeback they needed, as the Marauders completed the victory.
McMaster ends conference play with a 14 and 5 record, while Guelph has one game remaining versus Brock and now needs some help to make the OUA playoffs.
Leon Alexander paced the balanced Mac attack with 18 points, with Troy Joseph and Aaron Redpath each scoring 17, and McNeil 14 off the bench. Top shooter for Guelph was Jon Wallace with 23.
The Marauders will next be at home for an OUA quarterfinal contest on Saturday, March 5. The opponent and game time are yet to be determined so check in at marauders.ca for details to be confirmed as they become available.
Source: McMaster Marauders
Thunderwolves fall to Mustangs but playoff hopes still alive
The men's basketball team were handed a 84-69 loss by the Western Mustangs on Friday, hampering but not denying their case for a playoff bid.
The Thunderwolves found themselves up against a stingy Western defense, that keyed on Lakehead stars Henry Tan and Bacarius Dinkins early on. Dinkins was doubled at every turn, kept completely off the glass (zero rebounds in the first half) but still managed to put up 7 points in the first 20 minutes.
Western came out of the locker room with a vengeance, going on a huge run to begin the second half and opening up a 20-point lead in short order. As the deficit climbed to to 28, coach Manny Furtado put in his reserves, who did stop the bleeding and bring the game back within 20, trailing 65-45 after three quarters.
Bacarius Dinkins was held to a career-low 2 rebounds while scoring 17 points. Kache Kopec showed his offensive touch off the bench, potting 17 points as well on 6-of-8 shooting. Henry Tan was held to two points and was 0-of-7 from the field.
Western went 18-of-28 from the free throw line, while Lakehead shot well (80%), but got to the line just 10 times.
"Our lack of execution defensively is unacceptable. We let three guys score 70 points. We've got to understand that these opportunities don't come along too often. We need to make better choices everyday if we want to compete at the highest level."
Lakehead will play their final regular season game tomorrow in Windsor against the Lancers at 8:30pm.
Source: Lakehead Thunderwolves
Gee-Gees notch road win in North Bay
The no. 2 ranked Gee-Gees men's basketball team closed out its Friday night tilt at Nipissing with a strong second half performance to register a 74-49 win and move its record to 16-2 with one game remaining in the regular season. Nipissing fell to 3-15 with the loss.
Mike L'Africain led all scorers with 20 points in the contest, while Ottawa's Nathan McCarthy collected three blocks on the defensive end to go with his 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting. Caleb Agada pitched in with 17 points and Vikas Gill added 10.
After jumping out to a 20-10 lead the Gee-Gees limped through the second quarter with just two points to show for the first six minutes of the stanza. The Lakers took a 26-24 lead, capitalizing on Ottawa's poor shooting. The Gee-Gees never did find the range from long distance, shooting 8-for-38 from three-point land.
After holding a slim 34-28 lead at halftime, Ottawa scored the first 12 points of the second half thanks to a stronger tempo and multiple players taking the ball to the hoop. L'Africain canned a transition three-pointer and the Gee-Gees were in control.
Nipissing's rebounding was a strong suit, leading the efforts for most of the game and finishing just one behind Ottawa at 33-32. The Lakers shot 39 per cent from the field in the first half but fell to 24 per cent in the second half while Ottawa shot 30 per cent in the first and 47 per cent in the second.
The Gee-Gees will wrap up the regular season at Laurentian on Saturday night with tipoff at 8 p.m.
Source: Ottawa Gee-Gees
Gaels push No. 3 ranked Rams to the brink but lose heartbreaker
KINGSTON, Ont. (February 26, 2016)- Adika Peter-McNeilly hit the game-winning shot with 1.2 seconds left in regulation, and the CIS No. 3 ranked Ryerson Rams survived a scare from the host Queen's Gaels on Saturday evening at the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC), topping the upstart Gaels by a score of 70-68.
Sukhpreet Singh tallied a game-high 23 points for the Gaels, and put his team up by one point on a great drive to the basket with just 5.9 seconds left in regulation.
Coming out of their timeout, the Rams (16-2) were able to find McNeilly on the top right corner for the three-point shot that capped off arguable one of the most entertaining games of the CIS season. Tanner Graham put up a quick attempt from the deep right corner on Queen's next inbounds, but his shot bounced off the deep rim and out.
Ammanuel Diressa picked up a team-best 14 points for Ryerson, while Graham and Andrew Mavety added 14 and 11 respectively for the Gaels, who shot 33.8% from the field. The men were able to hold the second-ranked offense in the CIS, who normally averages north of 90 points per game, to just 70 points and a modest 35.2% shooting efficiency.
GAME FLOW
Ryerson used an impressive 50.0% shooting efficiency in the first 10 minutes of the contest in jumping out to a 22-19 lead after one quarter of play. The Gaels were able to keep pace through the early part of the game after the Rams got into early foul trouble and found themselves in the penalty just over two and a half minutes into the first.
Queen's drained 7-of-8 free-throws and found themselves down by a single possession despite having to negotiate with a potent Ryerson offence throughout the opening quarter.
Both offenses quieted down in the early part of the second, as the teams combined for one basket over the first three and a half minutes of the period. Singh (Toronto) caught fire soon after, however, draining consecutive shots from beyond the arc to tie the game at 25-25.
After Graham (Kingston) notched the Gaels third three-pointer in a row to push the hosts in front, the teams traded the advantage leading into the halftime break. The teams entered the locker rooms with the Ryerson maintaining a three-point lead.
Another Graham three brought the Gaels within two, and Singh tied the game with a stop-and-shoot after a strong drive to the net early in the third quarter. Ryall Stroud (Toronto) capped off a 7-2 Gaels run to open the second half with a short jumper that put the hosts in front. No more than two points separated the squads throughout the third, as the teams exchanged the lead on numerous occasions.
As the third-quarter buzzer neared, Mavety (Vancouver, B.C.) hit a two-pointer to put Queens in front, but Peter-McNeilly responded with a three as time ran out to give the Rams a single-digit lead heading into the fourth.
The high-pace continued early in the final quarter, and neither side allowed the other to gain more than a single-possession advantage leading up to the midway point of the fourth. Mavety gave Queen's its biggest lead of the game at that point, putting the Gaels up by three with 6:44 left. The Rams responded by pulling within one on two straight possessions, and then Diressa got fouled by Mike Shoveller (Arnprior, Ont.) while attempting a three and proceeded to hit 2-of-3 free-throws to put Ryerson back in front.
Graham and Mavety responded with back-to-back three's to give the hosts a five-point lead with just over two minutes remaining. Ryerson responded coming out of its timeout with four-straight points in cutting the deficit to one. After forcing a shot-clock violation with some hard-nosed defence, the Rams re-took the lead after Diressa made both his free-throws following a Gaels foul.
Then began the final moments of the game where Singh's basket was followed by McNeilly's heroics.
FINAL SAY
"I thought we defended well which gave us a chance at the end," said Head Coach Stephan Barrie. "I'm not disappointed about the last shot; that was an incredible shot. But it should have never gotten to the last play. It was more with two minutes left, we had some plays that put us in a bad spot at that point. We were two plays from putting the game away and we had them go the other way, which got them right back in the game."
BY THE NUMBERS
8- Neither team led by more than single digits throughout the contest, the largest lead was eight by the Rams
18- The lead changed 18 times throughout Friday's game, and was tied on 12 occasions
10- The rebounding difference, as Ryerson pulled down 51 boards compared to 41 from the Gaels
UP NEXT
The Gaels return to the ARC on Saturday evening to close out the regular season against the Toronto Varsity Blues. Tip-off is set for approximately 8:00 p.m.
Source: Queen's Gaels
