Heartbreaking Loss in League Final

Saturday @ McGill - RSEQ Championship FINAL


BU        23   19   19   13  -  74
MU       14   14   27   22  -  77

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for all their support over the course of this season. We had great fan support at home games and on the road as well. Saturday at McGill in a packed house the BU fans rivaled the McGill fans in numbers and crushed them from a spirit perspective...somethings never change! It feels good to know that Gaiter Basketball is relevant again.

To say this loss is heartbreaking is an understatement. Our guys have put so much into this season and I feel they deserved a better fate. Regardless, they have nothing to hang their heads about and they represented all of us terrifically well!

We came to play on Saturday and really jumped on McGill in the first half. 5th yr senior Tim Hunter dropped five 3 pointers in the first half playing the way you need a senior to play. We did a fantastic job defensively, we rebounded the ball and we did not foul. Our ball pressure was excellent & we played like a championship team.

However, the wheels fell off a bit in the 2nd half. McGill came out in attack mode as they were down 14. We withstood that early and had our lead up to 15 points. Unfortunately our lack of depth(both Scott & PK played through injuries & were less effective than usual) combined with the fact the temperature in the gym was literally 90 degrees contributed to us wearing down and fouling way too much. After shooting 2 free throws in 1st half, McGill shot 28 in the 2nd half.We committed those fouls, but after watching the video I feel we could have shot another 8-10 free throws ourselves.

Fast forward to the final minutes. Down 1 with 2:30 to go and Jeremy hits a 3 point shot to put us up 2, we get a stop on the defensive end and follow that with a Big Mike score inside. McGill replies with a 2 and a defensive stop of their own. Then the dagger...with the shot clock running out McGill hits a contested 3 pointer off the glass from the top of the key to go ahead by 1. We come down and Jona Bermillo has his 3 point shot hit the front of the rim, the back board, the front of the rim, the back of the rim and the front of the rim before it falls off...Big Mike's tip back rolls off the rim! We are down 1 and end up fouling, McGill makes 2 free throws and our 3 pointer to tie rims out...game over...season over!

We held McGill to 35% shooting, we shot 41%, only gave up 6 offensive rebounds, forced 18 turnovers & committed 11, but were outscored by 15 points at the foul line. That was the game! Big Mike led us with 22 points & 7 rebounds despite McGill defenders doing chin-ups on his arms all night! Apparently if you are the biggest guy on the floor the defense can take liberties on you...I digress. Tim had a fantastic playoff performance scoring 17 in this game while Jeremy & Onnex added 14 & 10 respectively. Scott Ring was held scoreless & fouled out. However, he was on crutches on Thursday & Friday with a knee injury. The fact he played was a credit to his character, toughness & determination. Freshman Jona Bermillo played as well as a 1st year kid could in that environment & gave us a chance to compete with Scott playing on 1 leg.

McGill heads into the CIS tournament this week as the 6th seed facing a very good Ottawa team we have beaten twice. We have a 5-4 record vs. teams that will be in this year's National Tournament and it stings not to be there. Can only imagine the great fan support we would have had at Scotia Bank Place! Next season!!

We will have more news to report and a season review next week. Thanks again to all who supported us through the good and bad of the last few seasons.
Rod

Go Gaiters!!