OUA roundup: Undefeated no more

Photo credit Mike Lavoie

THUNDER BAY, Ont. - Scott Morrison's Lakehead Thunderwolves have become known for their fourth quarter comebacks, but Saturday night, the Ottawa Gee-Gees made sure that their game at Lakehead was long finished by the final 10 minutes.

Ottawa dealt the Wolves their first defeat in OUA play, winning 93-56 at the C. J. Sanders Fieldhouse in Thunder Bay, Ont. Lakehead's loss came just 24 hours after knocking the defending CIS champions, and previously undefeated No. 1 Carleton Ravens from their lofty perch.

With the loss, Lakehead drops to 7-1 but remains locked in at first place in the OUA West Division after completing the first half of their regular season. Ottawa improves to 6-2 and completes an impressive weekend sweep of LU and CIS No. 3 McMaster.

Senior guard Jamie Searle was a rare bright spot for the Wolves, tallying 20 points with four assists. Joe Jones also reached double-figures with 10 points, but Lakehead mustered barely a whimper from the field as they went 18-of-66 (27 percent) and 3-of-22 (14 percent) from the three-point line.

Ottawa's Warren Ward was the undisputed king of the court in notching 27 points on a 9-of-16 shooting effort while going a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe. Josh Gibson-Bascombe added 13 points and nine assists. The Gee-Gees were lights out as a squad, shooting 34-of-64 (53 percent) from the floor while going 9-of-15 (60 percent) from the outside.

The Gee-Gees switching man defence disrupted Lakehead's perimeter offence for much for much of the game, though Lakehead did have some success scoring in the paint. After pouring 33 points on the Ravens, Friday night, the Wolves bench went cold as it shot 6-of-27 as a unit.

"If any of our players did not heed the post game talk on Friday regarding the Bob Knight 'big game hangover' they now know what we were talking about," says head coach Scott Morrison. "Not only did we come out softer and less focused tonight than we have the past three weeks, but Ottawa came out blazing and made us pay for every lacklustre offensive possession and our sloppy team D by shooting a very high percentage from the floor and beating us on the glass."

Despite the loss, Morrison says that his team first half has built a strong base on which to grow in the second semester stretch.

"The theme of our season has been to treat adversity and success with the same determination," says Morrison. "That plan will now be tested over the break as we look to learn from our mistakes of the first semester, gain confidence from our strong play, and stay focused on executing and working one game at a time as the OUA West race heats up in January. We need no better indication of the balance in the OUA than our own experience this weekend."

CARLETON 83, MCMASTER 74

At McMaster, the No. 1 nationally-ranked Carleton Ravens wrapped up 2009 with an 83-74 victory over the No. 3 Marauders on Saturday night in Hamilton, Ont.

Coming off their first loss of the season, the Ravens had a bit of a slow start, trailing the Marauders 22-19 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was just as close and McMaster held on to a narrow 46-42 lead at halftime.

Carleton came out of the break with more energy. They pressured the Marauders and chipped away at their lead, eventually tying it up at the end of the third. The Ravens really picked it up in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Marauders 24-15 to take the 83-74 victory. They were led by veteran Kevin McCleery (Ottawa) who scored an outstanding game-high 30 points. Tyson Hinz (Ottawa) and Mike Kenny (Ottawa) also hit double digits for the Ravens, netting 16 and 14 points respectively.

Three Marauders reached double digits, led by Keenan Jeppesen (Stoney Creek, Ont.) who had 22 points. Cameron Michaud (Grimsby, Ont.) contributed 17 points, while Tyrell Vernon (Hamilton, Ont.) added 10.

McMaster outboarded the Ravens 37-30, led by Jeppesen and Michaud, who grabbed eight each. Elliot Thompson (Fredericton) had a team-high seven rebounds for the Ravens.

TORONTO 84, WESTERN 68
 
At Toronto, Nick Snow's career-high 30 points helped propel the No. 6 Varsity Blues to a convincing 84-68 win over the Western Mustangs on Saturday at U of T Athletic Centre Sports Gym.

After a dismal shooting performance the night before, the Blues put on a shooting clinic in the second half of Saturday's contest. As a team, Toronto shot 63.3 percent on 19-of-30 shooting from the floor, including 5-of-11 from beyond the arc. They had a season-high 27 assists to Western's nine and only four turnovers compared to the 17 gaffes committed by the Mustangs.

A 6-foot-8 fifth-year senior, Snow hit 11 of his 18 shots from the floor and knocked down both attempts from three-point range. He hit all but one free-throw attempt (6-of-7) and hauled in six rebounds.

Four other Blues hit double figures. St. Catharines, Ont. native Rob Paris knocked down 15 points and added a season's best six assists. Fifth-year transfer-student Patrick Sewell (London, Ont.) tallied 13 and hauled in eight boards, while the team's second-leading scorer Nick Magalas (Burlington, Ont.) chipped in with 12 and led all players with eights assists.

It was an even tilt during the first 20 minutes of action. The Blues jumped out of the gate and took an early 23-17 lead at the end of one quarter. However, the Mustangs bounced back in the second and made a run of their own.

They outscored the home team 24-16 to take a slight 41-39 lead into the halftime break thanks in large part to the 11-point production from third-year guard Ryan Barbeau (Belleville, Ont.) and Sarnia, Ont. native Andrew Wedemire.

The second half was a different story entirely. Holding a slim two-point advantage, back-to-back Magalas threes at the end of the third quarter ignited the Blues squad that then went on an 11-2 run to take a 10-point lead with eight minutes to go in the game.

Off a Wedemire turnover with under three minutes remaining, Magalas then put the dagger threw the hearts of Western fans when we nailed his third three of the half to give Toronto a 82-66 lead and put the game out of reach.

WINDSOR 76, RYERSON 68

At Ryerson, the No. 9 Windsor Lancers earned their third straight win on Saturday night with a 76-68 victory on the road over the Ryerson Rams in Toronto.

With the victory, the Lancers move to 6-2 in conference play.
 
On Saturday, the two teams played an even game for three of the four quarters, until Windsor pulled ahead in the fourth en route to the victory.
 
The Rams opened the game with a 7-0 run, but Windsor didn't let that stop them as they fought their way back and stayed with the Rams for the remainder of the game.
 
The Lancers outrebounded the Rams 37-33 on the night in what was another defensive struggle.

For Windsor, Isaac Kuon, Andre Smyth and Enrico DiLoreto each scored 11 points while Nigel Johnson-Tygther added eight points and a team high eight rebounds.

LAURIER 83, LAURENTIAN 55

At Wilfrid Laurier, the Golden Hawks downed the Laurentian Voyageurs 83-55.

"It's good to get back," said Sharif Wanas (Burlington, Ont) referring to Laurier's two wins this weekend in comparison to their previously less fortunate couple of games. "We had a pretty good week in practice and moral is high. We just won our game, so things are pretty good for us right now. I think these wins will give us some good momentum going into next semester."

The Hawks dominated the play in the first half of the game, out-scoring and out-rebounding their opponents. Even though, in the first half, Laurentian outshot Laurier, the home team's shooting percentage was significantly higher at 49.15 percent in comparison to the Voyageurs 20.4 percent.

The first quarter of the game ended with the Hawks doubling the visiting team's score with a buzzer-beating jump-shot from Laurier's Conor Meschino (Oakville, Ont). In the second quarter, the purple and gold further increased their lead over Laurentian, raking up 12 points uninterrupted by a single Voyageur basket. By half time, Laurier had earned a 22 point lead over their opponents. The score was 42-18.

The second half of the game favoured Wilfrid Laurier. The Hawks continued to outscore the Voyageurs and increase their lead. Laurier managed to achieve a maximum difference in the score of 31 points midway through the forth quarter. The game ended with a 28-point lead for the home team, 83-55.

Jesse MacDonald (Brantford, Ont) was the high-scorer for Laurier with 19 points. Maxwell Allin (Chatham, Ont) contributed with 13 and Sharif Wanas (Burlington, Ont) had 10. Laurier's Kale Harrison scored seven points and managed seven rebounds. For Laurentian, Manny Pasquale got 19 points and Isiah Pasquale score 10.

QUEEN'S 60, BROCK 59

At Queen's, down by two points with two seconds to play, the Gaels put the game in Baris Ondul's hands, and the fifth-year guard responded with a buzzer-beating three-pointer for a 60-59 win over the Brock Badgers.

Ondul's (Istanbul) heroics came in response to a three-pointer by Brock's Anto Raic (Welland, Ont.) to put the Badgers up by two. The guard finished the game with 17 points and a game-high four assists.

The game started with the Gaels jumping out to an 18-0 lead, finishing the first quarter up 19-3. Mitch Leger (Kingston, Ont.) started quietly, but finished with another double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Brock's comeback was complete in the fourth quarter when they tied the game, led by guard Clinton Springer-Williams (London, Ont.) with 22 points.

GUELPH 95, RMC 64

At RMC, five Guelph Gryphons hit double digits in their 95-64 victory over the RMC Paladins in Kingston on Saturday.

After taking a 33-12 first quarter lead Guelph didn't look back.  Guelph now moves to 3-5 while RMC drops to 0-8.

The win was truly a team effort with five members of the team scoring double digits. Guelph native Dan McCarthy led all scorers with 22 points.

First-year players Matthew Howlett (Burlington, Ont.) and Drew Morris (Guelph, Ont.) finished with 18 and 17 points respectively. Point guard Michael Petrella chipped in with 13 points and fifth-year captain Jay Mott rounded out the double digit scoring with 11. 

WATERLOO 85, YORK 72

At Waterloo, the Warriors tamed the York Lions 85-72.

Cam McIntyre (Kitchener, Ont.) led the way with 27 points and was 7-of-13 from three-point land. Matt Hayes (Midland, Ont.) also contributed 14 points to the victory.

Stefan Haynes (North York, Ont.) led the Lions with 22 points.

LAKEHEAD 76, CARLETON 73

At Lakehead, after narrowly missing out on a CIS Top 10 ranking this week, the Lakehead Thunderwolves men's basketball team made an enormous statement Friday night, as the handed the defending CIS champion Carleton Ravens their first loss of the season in a thrilling 76-73 comeback victory before a raucous crowd at the C.J. Sanders Fieldhouse in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The Wolves have been a fourth-quarter buzzsaw this year and continued that trend against the No. 1 nationally-ranked Ravens, outscoring them 20-9 to overcome a 10-point halftime deficit. Lakehead has now outscored their opponents 167-94 in the final 10 minutes and have amassed six second half comebacks in conference play.

Yoosrie Salhia had 19 points and eight rebound to lead the Wolves while sophomore guard Joe Jones added 16 points while playing stifling defence on the Carleton guards. Posts Brendan King and Ryan Thomson had 11 and 10 points, respectively, with Thomson adding seven assists.

Carleton was led by a sizzling three-point barrage from Elliot Thompson who had 25 points while going 5-of-8 from beyond the arc. Cole Hobin and Tyler Hinz added 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The Ravens appeared to have taken control early in the game as they capitalized on some sloppy turnovers and defensive rotations by Lakehead to lead 45-35 at halftime. Improved offensive penetration and key defensive stops allowed the Pack to storm back into the contest in the second half, whipping a standing-room only crowd into frenzy.

Lakehead took a 71-69 lead - their first lead of the second half - at 4:40 when senior guard Jamie Searle found room in the lane and dumped off a bounce pass for Salhia for the open layout. Point guard Greg Carter's free throws over two minutes later extended the lead to four while Lakehead took complete control immediately after when Jones drew a charge on Ravens' point guard Michael Kenny, sending him to the bench with his fifth personal.

After Carter hit a big fade-away to beat the shot clock at 1:40, Carleton showed signs of life and pulled within two points, but forward Kyle McCleery turned it over with 15 seconds left and later missed a three-pointer that would have sent the game to overtime.

"There is no question that was a huge win for us," says Thunderwolves head coach Scott Morrison. "While it only counts for two points in the standings, our team now believes we are capable of beating any team with the right type of focus, intensity and execution. We were not perfect tonight, but luckily neither was Carleton and we were able squeeze out a tough one. The trick now is to get re-focused on a hot Ottawa team tomorrow night and do everything we can to finish the semester on a winning note."

OTTAWA 65, MCMASTER 63, OT

At McMaster, Josh Gibson-Bascombe's acrobatic drive to the hoop with four seconds left in overtime proved to be the winning basket for the Ottawa Gee-Gees as they knocked off the Marauders, the No. 3 team in the nation, with a thrilling 65-63 overtime win in Hamilton, Ont. on Friday night.

The Gee-Gees took command of the game right from the start and built up a sizeable lead only to watch Mac rebound and force overtime with a strong second half of play.

At one point during extra time the lead changed four times in 10 seconds.

Nemanja Baletic (Ottawa) tied the game for uOttawa 63-63 sinking one of two free throws with 18 seconds remaining before Gibson-Bascombe's terrific individual play.

"It was great to see Josh sink that basket at the end," said Gee-Gees head coach Dave DeAveiro. "He was being manhandled all night and came through when we needed it. He's had a couple of chances like that in other games and didn't make the basket, this time he did. It's a big win for us.

WINDSOR 61, TORONTO 60

At Toronto, the No. 9 Windsor Lancers edged the No. 6 Varsity Blues 61-60 on Friday at the U of T Athletic Centre in Toronto.
 
In a barn-burner between nationally-ranked opponents, senior forward Nigel Johnson-Tyghter grabbed one of his four offensive rebounds and emphatically dunked it with under two minutes left to give the Lancers a slight two-point lead. He then hit two critical free throws moments later, restoring the visitor's lead once again, 59-57.
 
After Windsor hit another two free throws to extend their margin to 61-57, Toronto guard Rob Paris who missed a three-pointer moments earlier that would have put the Blues up one, knocked down three of his 14 points with 0.79 seconds on the clock to pull his team to within one.
 
On the ensuing play, Toronto fouled guard Enrico Diloreto who missed the first attempt, then intentionally missed the second with only 0.7 remaining in the game and time would expire as Paris heaved one last attempt from underneath his own basket.
 
Both teams struggled from the floor as the Varsity Blues shot a poor 26.7 percent. The Lancers didn't fare much better, shooting 34.9 percent on 22-of-63 shooting over the course of the game, yet knocked down the shots that mattered during the key fourth-quarter run.
 
Johnson-Tyghter had a team-high 15 points as well as six rebounds. Windsor's fourth-year players Isaac Kuon and Monty Hardware knocked down 11 and 10 points, respectively.
 
Toronto's Nick Magalas led all players with 19 points.

WESTERN 80, RYERSON 69

At Ryerson, the Western Mustangs played tough defence down the stretch to earn an 80-69 win over the Ryerson Rams.

Western held a four-point lead with just over two minutes left after trailing 41-40 at the half.

Andy Wedemire (Sarnia, Ont.) led Western with a team-high 23 points, adding seven rebounds. Guard Ryan Barbeau (Belleville, Ont.) had an impressive nine rebounds, adding 19 points, three assists and a pair of steals.

Zachary Angus (Burlington, Ont.) added 12 points off the bench for Western, while Ryerson star forward Boris Bakovic led both teams 24 points, adding seven rebounds.

LAURIER 66, YORK 55

At Wilfrid Laurier, the Golden Hawks defeated the York Lions 66-55 on Friday night.

The Hawks started the game strong, taking the lead from the get-go after a lay-up from Matthew Buckley (Waterloo, Ont.) closely followed by a three-pointer from Jesse MacDonald. Midway through the first quarter, Laurier increased their lead to 10 points, but by the end of this quarter, York had whittled this lead down to five points at 20-15.

Come the second quarter, Laurier further increased their lead over the visiting team. The half came to a dramatic end as, with only milliseconds left on the clock, Buckley slam-dunked the ball, making the score 34-26 for the purple and gold.

With the third quarter came a rainfall of threes courtesy of Jesse MacDonald and Kale Harrison (Stratford, Ont.). Laurier ended this quarter up 20 points over the Lions, 55-35.

In the forth quarter, foul trouble ensued. The Hawks peaked at a 22-point lead over York before a seven-minute basket-free drought. During this time, York got 15 points in a row, narrowing Laurier's lead to a mere seven points.

Thanks to MacDonald's cool head and leadership, the Hawks got back on track, winning the game 66-55.

MacDonald was the high-scorer of the game with 18. For Laurier, Harrison followed with 13 points and Buckley had 10. Maxwell Allin (Chatham, Ont.) contributed with eight points and 12 rebounds. For the Lions, Stefan Haynes (North York, Ont.) had 16 points.

GUELPH 83, QUEEN'S 57

At Queen's, the Guelph Gryphons defeated the Gaels 83-57 on Friday night in Kingston, Ont.
 
The Gryphons got off to a great start in the first quarter taking a 20-11 lead.  After the Gaels matched the Gryphons scoring in the second quarter (20-20) the Gryphons went on to lead the second half outscoring Queen's 24-11 in the third and 19-15 in the fourth.

Jay Mott (Burlington, Ont.) continues his impressive scoring streak, leading the Gryphons with 25 points and finishing with 5-of-10 from three point range. Jonathan Moscatelli (Toronto) finished with 20 points, while John Brutto (London, Ont.) led the team on the glass with nine rebounds.

BROCK 91, RMC 54

At RMC, the Brock Badgers opened the weekend with a 91-54 victory over the Royal Military College Paladins Friday night at the KMCSC.

The Badgers were hot from long range all night shooting a season high 64.3 percent (18-of-28) from three-point land. From the field Brock shot 38.3 percent (31-of-81) for the game while the Paladins were kept to just 35.2 percent from the floor knocking down just 19 field goals (19-of-54).

The Badgers had four players in double figures led by sophomore Joel Whitty (St. Catharines, Ont.) and freshman Anto Raic (Welland, Ont.) who recorded 15 points each in the victory. Whitty went 5-of-7 from beyond the arc matching his season high while Raic had a career night draining 4-of-5 from downtown in just six minutes off the bench.

Also in double figures were sophomore Didi Mukendi (St. Catharines, Ont.) and freshman Brian Nahimana (London, Ont.) who contributed with 10 points each. Junior Andrew Ferguson (St. Catharines, Ont.) and freshman Nathan Samuel (Brantford, Ont.)  chipped in with nine points each rounding out the Brock leaders.

WATERLOO 91, LAURENTIAN 70

At Waterloo, the Laurentian Voyageurs came out on the losing side going down 91-70 to the Warriors.

Manny Pasquale (Victoria) led the way for the Voyageurs with 14 points while Jamie Campbell (Sudbury, Ont.) would chip in with 11 points and six rebounds. Waterloo would receive strong games from Alan Goodhoofd (Oakville, Ont.) who had 12 points and nine rebounds and Cam McIntyre (Kitchener, Ont.) who would lead all scorers with 21 points while dishing out four helpers.

Laurentian would be dominated by an overwhelming Warriors offence as Waterloo would score 26 points in each quarter in the first half. The Laurentian defence was unable to control the Waterloo shooing and they would go down at half time 52-29.

In the second half, the Voyageurs would perform much better outscoring their opponents 41-39, but it would be too much for them to overcome and they would fall 91-70.

Laurentian would shoot 37 percent from the field, 39 percent from three-point line, and 79 percent from the charity stripe. Waterloo would outdo their opponents shooting 53 percent from the field, 62 percent from the three-point line, and 80 percent from the free-throw line. Laurentian would turn the ball over 15 times compared to Waterloo's 13 and would be outrebounded 36-26.

"We got off to a bad start," said head coach Shawn Swords. "Our intensity on both ends of the court was not there. We have to be the team that works the hardest."

Source: Lakehead Thunderwolves, Carleton Ravens, Ottawa Gee-Gees, Toronto Varsity Blues, Windsor Lancers, Queen's Gaels, Guelph Gryphons, Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, Western Mustangs, Brock Badgers, Laurentian Voyageurs with files from OUA Communications