RSEQ Semi-Final

Wednesday @   Concordia – RSEQ Semi-Final

BU           15    17    18    21   -   71

CU           23    18    12    26   -   79

Kevin Davis - RSEQ 1st Team

Our February run came to an end last night. Very disappointing, but proud of how hard our guys played and the resilience they showed throughout the year. There were plenty of opportunities to quit, but they did not relent.

Concordia got off to hot start as they opened the game with a flurry of 3 point shooting…they made 6 in the first quarter. We did defend better as the half progressed, but we never did get into a real rhythm offensively as we shot 35% for the half.  We found ourselves down 9 at the break and it could have been worse.

Abdul Kamane - RSEQ 2nd Team

We came out strong to start the 2^nd half and managed to cut the lead to 3 by the end of the 3^rd Q.  We carried our momentum into the 4^th taking a 4 point lead before a 4 minute scoring drought did us in between the 7:00 and 3:00 minute mark. In recent games we had been able to score at the rim to get back on track. We missed some good shots and had a couple of costly turnovers. Conversely, ConU hit a couple of tough 3’s at the end of the shot clock and that was the difference in the game. Valiant effort, but we were not good enough down the stretch to get the win this night.

Nervens Demosthene led us in scoring with 20 points. The 2^nd year guard stepped up in the game and has the potential to be a very special player. Joany Castor Thadal missed some great looks early in the game, but made shots in the 4^th to bring us back and to keep us within striking distance later in the 4^th. Jo had 17 pts. Abdul Kamane had 11 points and 8 rebounds. Kevin Davis had 9 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists & 3 steals. 4^th year forward Yassin Naji had 8 points and 5 rebounds.

Duncan Lambert - Ken Shields' Award

In other news, the RSEQ League Awards were announced Tuesday. Kevin Davis was named to the RSEQ 1^st All Star team. Abdul Kamane was named to the 2^nd All Star team. Duncan Lambert received the Ken Shields’ Award for Community Leadership, Academics and Athletics. Very nice and deserved honour for one of our graduating captains.

RSEQ Week #10

Saturday @  UQAM

BU            20    22    19    21   -   83

UQAM    25    21    14    20   -   81

After Laval lost to Concordia on Thursday night we were guaranteed a playoff spot. UQAM beat McGill on Thursday as well.  This meant we would finish 4^th regardless of the outcome of this game. This game meant something to UQAM though. A win gave them a chance at finishing 2^nd and hosting a semi-final on Wednesday.

We approached this game with the mentality to compete to win, but with a game plan that ensured we did not play anyone max minutes. We scripted substitutions and had 2 or 3 different guys going in every 2 minutes. It worked out well with 11 guys playing at least 10 minutes and only 1 guy playing a little more than 22 minutes. Got the win, played a very deep bench and maintained the momentum we gained in the past 3 weeks. Mission accomplished.

Yassin with a career high 21 points! 

As you can tell by the score it was another tight game…17 lead changes and almost as many tied score situations. Once again it came down to the last minute and our guys executed when it counted. We did a pretty nice job offensively most of the game as we shot over 50% from the floor. Abdul Kamane ended up scoring the basket that put us ahead for good with about 24 seconds to go. We have been in so many close games this season that we just have developed a strong comfort level in these situations. This certainly gives us confidence heading into the playoffs.

Yassin Naji led us in scoring with 21 points. Yas has really come into his own the last few weeks and is playing with a lot of confidence. Abdul Kamane has not only regained his scoring form from last year as he scored 20 points, but he really is doing a nice job at the defensive end as well.   

The stage is set for the RSEQ playoffs Wednesday night in Montreal…UQAM @ McGill and BU @ ConU. We play the Stingers at 8PM. The last 3 weeks have prepared us for this game…we have been playing ‘must win’ games since the beginning of February and are as comfortable playing on the road as at home. ConU will be tough as they are the 1^st place team in our league. However, with the parity in our league you are going to have to play well and have a little bit of luck to win whether you are a higher seed or not.

Would love to see a few of our alumni and our fans out at ConU on Wednesday night. If you plan to attend remember that ConU’s venue does not exactly hold a lot of people and there is a women’s playoff game (ConU vs. Ryan Thorne’s McGill Martlets) at 6 pm before our game. Get there early if you want to get in!

RSEQ Week #9

Saturday vs.  #10 Concordia

BU            9    15    23    23   -   73

CU           14    19    15    20   -   71

A lot of reasons to want to win this game…Seniors’ Night, key recruits on campus and most importantly, our season was kind of on the line. It was not exactly must win, but it was pretty close to that. Anyhow, this win (and Laval’s loss to UQAM) put us in a spot where we now control our own playoff fate. Laval has 2 games left, we have 1 vs. UQAM…any Laval loss or BU win puts us in. Potential to finish as high as 3^rd, but some things have to happen. Our focus is simply win Saturday at UQAM! Game time is 6 PM by the way and not 8 PM as usual.  

Abdul with a game high 26 points

Pretty poor 1^st half offensively as we had 14 turnovers including 9 in the 1^st Q. Many were unforced. The blame for that goes to our alum Chris Forsythe as he broke section 1.2-A  of Murphy’s Law when he said ‘it looks you figured out the turnover problem last weekend vs. Laval.’ That was the kiss of death and there was nothing wooden around for me to touch or knock on to combat his exclamation! That only lasted for a half though as we had a much more manageable 4 turnovers after the break.

With fewer turnovers we were much more efficient offensively as one would expect despite shooting 2-16 from 3. We were able to find ways to score at the rim and get to the foul line. Defensively we were very good, but did not always reward ourselves though as ConU out worked us on the glass grabbing 23 offensive rebounds. Our worst rebounding game of the year, but full credit goes to our opponent as they competed harder in that area.

Throughout the 2^nd half the game was tight. Kevin Davis came through again at the end putting us ahead by 1 with 15 seconds left in the game on a nice driving layup. Our defense held on the next possession, Concordia fouled, we made 1 of 2 free throws and ConU missed an attempt at the buzzer…game over.

Our graduating Seniors…Kevin Davis, Andrew Howarth, Abdul Kamane and Duncan Lambert all got the start.  Abdul got back into form after struggling to score recently. He had 26 points and played a solid all around game. Kevin Davis had another clutch winning hoop on his way to 13 points. Andrew had 8 points and 6 rebounds playing with his usual consistency. Jordan Thornhill came off the bench to score 10 points and grab 8 rebounds. Played well defensively and is getting better each game.

As previously mentioned, we close out league play at UQAM on Saturday. Game time is 6 pm. Hope to see you there!

RSEQ Week #8

Friday at Laval

BU          26    18    15    14   -   73

UL           10    19    18    24   -   71

Not exactly breaking news, but our guys can confirm that winning close games is much better than losing close games! We won two games this week by getting some bounces and making shots at key times that did not go down in a bunch of our losses in the last few weeks.

Jordan Thornhill  20 points, 9 rebounds Friday 

On Friday we got off to a poor start getting down 7 pts to start the game. We finished the 1^st Q on a 26-3 run. We maintained control of the game for the 2^nd Q and most of the 3^rd Q before just going cold offensively. We were getting great shots, but could not knock down open 3’s and layups at the rim. Laval chipped away at our lead and took the lead with 4:00 minutes to go. They maintained a small lead until Kevin Davis knocked down a 3 pt shot with 1:20 to go to put us up by 2. Laval tied it at 71 shortly after, but Kevin found Jordan Thornhill for a lay-up with 12 seconds to go to take the lead. Our D held and we snuck away with the much needed road win that kept us in the playoff hunt.

 2^nd year forward Jordan Thornhill had a career best game with 20 points & 9 rebounds. Jordan missed the last 3 games with a concussion and we certainly noticed his absence. This weekend was the first time in 3 years that we have played with our complete playing rotation intact. Injuries have not been kind to us. Kevin Davis hit some big shots scoring 14 points. Joany Castor Thadal had a nice all around game with 8 points, 7 rebounds & 4 assists off the bench.

Saturday vs. Laval

    

BU          14    22    27    12   -   75

UL           24    14    19    16   -   73

After a sluggish 1^st quarter we found some rhythm offensively and put together an excellent 2^nd and 3^rd Quarter. The 4^th was a bit of a challenge to say the least. We only had 11 turnovers for the game, but again we just could not make shots for a long stretch in the 4^th Q. After scoring on our 1^st possession of the 4^th we only scored 4 points in the next 9 minutes. We defended well, but had a bit of a crisis of confidence when shooting the ball.

After a couple of controversial situations we found ourselves down 4 with 30 seconds to go and with

5th year Captain Kevin Davis

the ball. Out of our time out Nervens Demosthene found Joany for a 3 on the backside of the floor which he knocked down with a hand in his face to cut the lead to 1.  Normally an excellent shooter, he struggled this weekend shooting the ball. However, he made the shot that kept our season alive! He also lost a tooth in the 1st half after getting an elbow in the mouth. Happy to see him make that shot for so many reasons! With 15 seconds to go our guys managed to create a turnover off of Laval’s sideline out of bounds play to get possession of the ball back. We had 1 more time out left and we were able to get the ball to Kevin Davis who scored a lay-up with 11 seconds on the clock while getting fouled. The hoop put us up 1 and the free throw made it a 2 point lead. Laval missed a tough shot coming down the floor that we rebounded to save the victory.  

Kevin had 24 points and 6 steals in his 2^nd to last game in Mitchell Gymnasium. The 5^th year captain really stepped up this weekend. Abdul Kamane had 11 points and 6 rebounds. Not the usual high scoring weekend from Abdul, but he played well defensively scored timely hoops. 4^th year forward Andrew Howarth was solid with 9 pts and great team defense. 2^nd year guard Nervens Demosthene did not have a huge scoring weekend, but he had 14 assists in 2 games with only 1 turnover. We like that ratio!

We have 2 games left, Concordia at home Saturday where we will honour graduating seniors Kevin Davis, Andrew Howarth, Abdul Kamane & Duncan Lambert. Our last game is the following Saturday at UQAM. All we know now is that Concordia has 1^st place locked up, McGill controls their own destiny with regards to 2^nd place, but UQAM can catch them. 3^rd & 4^th place are up in the air with ourselves, Laval & UQAM fighting for 2 of  the remaining spots. Anything can happen and all we can worry about at this point is figuring out how to beat ConU on Saturday.

In other positive news for our program, Kyle Desmarais, former Gaiter and co-captain of the 2015 RSEQ Championship team has joined our coaching staff. Kyle will be our recruiting co-ordintor for Quebec & Eastern Ontario as well as doing some advanced scouting. More to follow on this when the article comes out on gaiters.ca. Excited have Kyle back with the Gaiters!