Gaiters Struggle @ House-Laughton

Friday vs. Victoria

BU          10   15   20   13  -  58

UVIC     20   22   19   19  -  80

UVIC is likely to be a top 5 team in the first set of TOP TEN rankings and we definitely were going to have our hands full either way as were playing without Jeremy and back up point guard Kurt Caro due to injury. We started the game with seven 1st quarter turnovers. UVIC is an excellent defensive team, but the majority of those were unforced and we helped dig ourselves a big hole early in the game. In addition to that, UVIC simply played harder and better than us. It was our least inspiring performance of the weekend.

To make matters worse we lost a 2nd starter to injury in the 1st quarter. Matt McLean injured his back and would be out the rest of the weekend. His status for this week in Saskatchewan is questionable.

Saturday vs. Carleton

BU     11   13   15   16  - 55

CU     30   27   17   13  - 87

Despite the score I was relatively pleased with our effort and some of the execution. Based on our performance the night before and the fact we were playing without 2 starters and our back up PG this could have been way worse. Often when you are down 33 at the half to Carleton you lose by 50 or more! They don't stop playing hard, ever. So, to outscore them in the second half was a small victory for us at this point.

Carleton schooled us in the 1st half though making 11 of 17 three point shots. Any mistake we made we paid for. Our guys did a good job of making adjustments in the 2nd half offensively and defensively though. With our injury and experience situation we are simply not ready to beat a team like Carleton right now. Regardless, I really liked how our guys competed the whole time.

Despite the disappointment of starting the season 2-4 I am not overly concerned. We are learning to deal with adversity and are maintaining our team chemistry. We are being tested in a variety of ways, but we have the right people on our team and the right athletes to be able to get through this.When the smoke finally clears I am confident we will be back to playing the way everyone expects us to be.

Big Mike led us with 20 pts, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks  & 3 steals. Might have been his best game as a Gaiter as it was against the best CIS competition.  Onnex added 10 points.

Sunday vs. Lakehead

BU     21   17   14   18  - 70

LU     13   15   24   26  - 78

We let one slip away here. We built an 18 point 2nd quarter lead before we squandered that away. To build that lead we executed well offensively and defensively. Lakehead has a couple of 7 footers, but our bigs were still able to score inside and we were able to get pretty much what we wanted. Then a couple of things changed: they went to a smaller line-up with a zone defense, we got into foul trouble which only magnified our lack of depth due to injuries.  We struggled after that and by the end of the 3rd quarter game was tied. In the 4th Lakehead was able to take control of the game in final couple of minutes. Without a doubt a disappointing loss, but Lakehead is not a bad team either. They are young in some areas, but they play hard and do not lack talent. This was a game that we will definitely learn a lot from and it will change our season for the better in the long run. Onnex led us with 18 points & 9 rebounds. Jona & Mike added 16 and 15 respectively while Majid contributed 10. This Wednesday we head to the Graham Shootout in Saskatoon to face Calgary, Saskatchewan and Toronto. So, our schedule does not get easier, but our guys would not want it any other way.  Should get easier the following week when we face our Alumni though. I hope! I will keep you posted.