Gaiters Grind Out Road Win @ Laval

Friday @ Laval

BU        20   17   16   15  -  68
UL        16   13   17   19  -  65

3rd yr Mike Andrews

This was a tough week with 3 games (2 of them on the road) in 6 days and no time for quality practices. To compound that we still are missing our key energy guy off the bench in Patrik Kabongo who is out with a back injury...should be back in a week or so we hope. We missed his minutes as we needed that experience, defense & rebounding last night. Regardless, our guys hung tough all week and they found a way to win on tired legs in Quebec City.

The game started with Laval coming out very aggressively. They were physical & definitely had the mentality they would be taking it to us. We managed to deal with that pretty well as our defense was solid and our inside game controlled the tempo. We were able to get to the foul line and Big Mike was, as our guys would term it, 'doing work' in the post. He scored on an array of moves and we thought he had put the Laval big man in foul trouble...but that is another story! Laval played well & never did allow us to stretch a lead out in the first half. We did manage to take the lead for good with 3 minutes to go in the half though.

We played pretty controlled & consistently (I might have a different opinion after watching the video this morning!) in the 2nd half and led by 7 or 8 points until the final minutes of the game. We made a couple of turnovers down the stretch which Laval converted into scores that brought them back to within a point with 11 seconds to go. However, Jeremy Leonard-Smith made 2 free throws to seal the win.

Big Mike was a force scoring 20 points, grabbing 7 rebounds & blocking or altering many shots. At times he is proving he has the potential to be not only one of top posts in our conference, but also in the CIS...consistency is the key & that seems to be improving. Onnex Blackwood continues to show he is the most improved defender on our team and he has not lost his scoring touch. Onnex had 16 points and 5 rebounds. Jeremy was solid again with 10 points and some tough D while Tim had 8 points & 5 assists. Matt McLean had 9 rebounds to lead us on the glass.

Our guys get a well deserved weekend off...sort of...we lift, condition & stretch Sunday morning to ensure they have a productive Sunday afternoon of studying! Wednesday we host McGill and next Saturday we travel to play Concordia (*Game time @ ConU is 4 pm). Both games have huge implications in the playoff picture as we are all are in a fight for the top 3 spots in our league & home playoff positions. Hope to see a few of you at the games...had a nice crowd last Wednesday night at home. Let's do that again!

Go Gaiters!!