Gaiters Go 2-1 at Tindall Classic

Friday vs. Ryerson

BU       17  13   14   26  -  70
RU       23  27   23   22  -  95

Ryerson is without a doubt one of the better teams in the CIS, but we were not ourselves in this game. We were overly concerned with Ryerson's strengths and not focused enough on what we do well. As the head coach I will take total responsibility for that. Regardless, a good lesson was learned and I am happy it was learned in the first game of the year and not the last!

Defensively we were one of the better teams in the CIS statistically last year. That was not apparent in this game as Ryerson shot 53% for the game and had their way with us. We did not test Ryerson in anyway and they pretty much controlled game from the 2nd quarter on.

Not a lot of highlights to report on with this game from a BU perspective. 4 of our starters combined to go 4-17 from the floor...not winning games that way! 5th year guard Onnex Blackwood had a solid game offensively scoring 15 while 2nd year guard Jona Bermillo had 13 off the bench. Our international addition, 6'11 Majid Naji from France, had 17 and showed flashes of what we can expect from him. Majid has not played in a year and is not exactly in game shape yet, but he is very talented.

Saturday vs. Queen's 

BU       19   14   20   27  -  80
QU       17   14   20   21  -  72

After a brief identity crisis in the Ryerson game we were able to get back to what made us successful last season...our defense. Queen's had made 16 of 31 three point shots the night before vs. Manitoba and we knew we had to defend the 3 point shot. Our guys were more disciplined defensively and played with more urgency as we held Queen's to 7 for 21 from the 3 pt line in this game. We completed our defensive effort by out-rebounding Queen's 50 to 31 and really controlling our defensive backboard.

Offensively we had moments where we looked good, but also had moments where we were turnover prone playing a little out of control. It's early October and we are anything but polished offensively right now. We did have good balance though with 4 guys in double figures. Jona Bermillo came off the bench to score 24 second half points as he carried us down the stretch from the point guard position after Scott Ring fouled out. Jona hit some clutch shots and made 15 of 17 free throws. After being a non-factor in the Ryerson game, 4th year post Mike Andrews reappeared with 15 points, 10 rebounds & 4 blocked shots. Onnex scored 14 and played quality defense while Majid continues to impress with 11 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. 4th year forward Matt McLean led us in rebounding with 11 and has really improved his overall game this year. 5th year forward Jeremy Leonard-Smith has been battling injuries for the past few months and is nowhere close 100%. However, he provided a great spark and help set the tone defensively along with 4th year guard Scott Ring.

Sunday vs. Manitoba

BU       14   20   18   17  -  69
UM        7   13   11   21  -  52

After defending pretty well vs. a high powered offensive team like Queen's the night before we had some confidence back in our defense. We played just as hard on Sunday and were able to hold Manitoba to 31 points for the first 3 quarters of the game. Offensively we continued to struggle at times, but it was nice to have our defense to fall back on.

After building our lead to 26 or 27 in the 4th quarter things got sloppy and Manitoba was able to cut the lead to less than 20 late in the 4th quarter. Despite that, it was good to finish the weekend on a relatively high note. I would not say our guys were overjoyed with the first tournament. As Scott Ring said, it was decent.  I think we are excited about getting a couple of weeks of quality practice in before we head to Carleton to face 3 outstanding teams in Victoria, Carleton and Lakehead.

Big Mike & Majid led us in scoring with 14 & 12 respectively. We had 4 others with 8 or 9 points in another balanced effort.

As previously mentioned, we are at the House-Laughton Tournament hosted by Carleton October 18-20. I will send out more information early next week on that. Included in that will be info on a BU Alumni reception following the Friday night game vs. Victoria. You can find more info on the men's basketball page at www.gaiters.ca.

I will keep you posted!