Gaiters Dropped at McGill

Thursday @ McGill

BU       23   21    6    13  -  63
MU      16   18   16   31  -  81

Despite being up 10 at the half I would not say we played that well. We were not always composed, we had 11 turnovers, we gave up 12 offensive rebounds and we committed 15 fouls. Those numbers do not normally translate to a 10 point lead at any point in the game! That may have given us a false sense of security and McGill definitely took advantage of that.

Sr. Captain Matt McLean

In the 2nd half we simply allowed McGill to bully us...we got the proverbial punch in the mouth and we did not respond. I am happy it happened now and not in the playoffs. If we learn from this then this will have been a good loss as I feel we are much better than we have been showing to this point. The fact of the matter is we have won some games lately and have not played that well. In 10 days (following the final exam period) when we resume practice we will have a  better idea of what we learned from this game.

Freshman Jaleel Webb

Back to the game...heading into the 4th the game was tied, but we managed to give up a whopping 31 points. McGill also did a good job of taking away primary options in our offense and we simply did not fight to get what we wanted. Watching this on video will be an enlightening experience...as they say, 'the tape don't lie!'  Anyhow, McGill fought hard for the win and they deserved to get the first W of the year in this match-up.

Scott led us in scoring and rebounding with 17 points and 7 rebounds. Matt competed hard adding 9 points and some very good defense. Freshman Jaleel Webb was a bright spot with 7 points and 6 rebounds while showing a lot of toughness despite not being the biggest body on the floor.

That was our last game of the semester and leaves us at 3-1 and in 2nd place in the RSEQ. Following the exam period we will practice for a week and then send the guys home for a holiday break. After Christmas we are at the Rod Shovellor Tournament in Halifax @ Dalhousie. We open against the host team on January 2nd and will face Saint Mary's and St. FX the following 2 days. More details to follow closer to the date.

From our everyone in our program we hope you all have safe and happy holiday season!
Rod

Gaiters Move to 3-0 With Win Over Laval

Friday vs. Laval

BU       19    17    23    21  -  80
UL       26     8     14    21  -  69

As expected this was a closely contested game. Laval came out attacking well on offense and put up a bigger number than we are comfortable with in the first quarter. We are not good enough offensively

Majid Naji

to give up too many 26 point quarters and expect to win games. Anyhow, our guys did a much better job in the 2nd quarter holding them to 8.

In the 3rd quarter we put together a nice run that had us up by 12 points late in the quarter. Unfortunately we had a bit of let up for the first few minutes of the 4th where Laval was able to take a 2 point lead. As was the case in the the 1st quarter our defense was shoddy and Laval took advantage of that. To our guys credit, they remained poised and we went on an 8-0 run to answer Laval after they took the lead. From there we were pretty solid defensively and we ran disciplined offense. We shot 47% from the floor, but on 4-25 from the 3 point line which is not quite what we would expect. Despite that, we finished the game with 9 turnovers and moved the ball pretty well at times on offense.

Captain Scott Ring

Jona led us in scoring with 21 points. Majid came off the bench to score some key hoops in the 2nd half as he added 13 points. Our captains, Matt and Scott were both excellent in all phases of the game with each scoring 11 points.

Next game is this Thursday at McGill where the RSEQ's only undefeated teams face off in the final game of the semester. McGill should be ranked #6 in the CIS this week and it will be a terrific game. Hope to see you there! Game time is 8 pm.
I will keep you posted!
Rod

Gaiters Grind Out Win @ Concordia

Saturday @ Concordia

BU       18   17   16   18 - 70
CU       17   21    9     8  - 55

After jumping out to 15-6 lead that was sparked by a couple of blocked shots by Big Mike & Matt Concordia came roaring back and pretty much controlled the rest of the first half. The point differential was never really more than a point or two, but it felt like the home team was carrying the play. That was punctuated by a 3 point shot off the dribble as the buzzer sounded to end the half which gave Concordia a 2 point lead.

We cleaned up a couple of things defensively at half time and our guys dug in & held Concordia to 9 pts in the 3rd and 8 pts in the 4th. We always have the goal of trying hold a team to 'a single digit quarter', but that is never easy. To put two of those together is pretty rare. The pride our guys showed

Freshman Jaleel Webb

defensively signaled to me that we are starting to gel a bit defensively and are developing some team toughness at that end of the floor. The last 3 weeks of practice we have been relatively injury free with exception of not having Jeremy. This has been huge for the development of our new guys who we really depend on in our rotation.

Our 'no stats' MVP for the game was Matt McLean....he only played 18 minutes due to foul trouble, but managed to play most of the 4th quarter with 4 fouls and not fouling out. He helped anchor our defense and just did a lot of little things to help us win that won't often get noticed. Freshman Jaleel Webb would receive consideration as well with a couple of timely hoops and some nice defense.

Big Mike led us with 16 points, 11 rebounds & 3 assists. Onnex had a very solid & well rounded game with 14 pts, 4 rebounds, 4 steals & 3 assists.

Sr. Mike Andrews

Scott Ring did a very good job managing the game with 10 points, 2 assists and 0 turnovers in 36 minutes.

Next up...Friday we host Laval who is coming off a bye week. They are talented and offensively skilled. They are a team who will be challenging for top spot in the league. Game time is 8 pm and the link for the webcast will be available on www.gaiters.ca.

I will keep you posted!
Rod

Gaiters Open RSEQ With Win Over UQAM

Saturday vs. UQAM

BU             25   19   16   21  -  81
UQAM       8    15   21   11  -  55

The first 2 possessions of the game pretty much set the tone for us. UQAM got possession of the jumpball, but we forced a 24 second shot clock violation (1 of several on the night I might add!) and then we went down on offense where Matt McLean had an emphatic follow up dunk after we missed a strong take to the basket.

UQAM is a much better team than they showed against us, but I thought we did a good job of not letting them be good. Our guys were disciplined defensively and stuck to the game plan for 40

2nd Year Guard Jona Bermillo

minutes. We forced 30 turnovers and held them to 35% shooting from the floor. Their league MVP candidate Alex Bernard was held to 9 points and that is probably 15 or so below his average. So, it was a good effort by our guys, but I expect that every game after this vs. UQAM will be much tougher.

Offensively we had good balance with 5 guys scoring in double figures and one with 9. To this point I would say we are always at our best when we have our scoring spread out like that. We don't really have that one 'go to' guy. Majid came off the bench to lead us in scoring with 18 points going

 4th Year Forward Majid Naji

4-4 from the 3 point line...he has to be the best shooting 6'11 guy in the CIS! Onnex added 12 points as did Jona Bermillo who also contributed a season high 8 assists and 4 steals. Freshman Dave Belanger was impressive scoring 11 points while going 5-5 from the floor & 1-1 from the foul line. Big Mike added 10 and despite foul trouble. 

Next up we travel to Concordia this Saturday for a 4 pm game (women play at 2pm). This game is the Shriner's Game and BU basketball alum John McDonaugh is helping promote this game for the Karnak Shriners South Shore Shrine Club. All profits from this event go to 'Patient's Transportation Fund'. So, not only would we like your fan support, but coming to the event is supporting a great organization with an important cause. Hope to see you there!
I will keep you posted!
Rod

Vintage Gaiters Back on Campus

'13-'14 Gaiters    -  89 

Vintage Gaiters  -  58

Despite the score, this year's team apparently lost the game! I was unaware of the rule that the last team to score wins the game...must have missed that somewhere in the FIBA handbook! According to Eddie P., Junior Nicolas' 30 foot 3 pt shot at the buzzer was the game winning shot! 

The basketball was decent at times. The older guys did get an opportunity to remind the young guys that they can still play a bit despite not lacing them up as regularly as they used to. There is a rumour going around that Patrice Lemieux did manage to get 31 shots off in 20 minutes and that Remi Aucoin scored 30...I am pretty sure neither is true, but I bet some of the guys from the '98 CIAU championship team would believe one of those rumours!! 

Regardless of the game, it was great to get a bunch of our alumni back on campus and we plan to build on this event. The stories as usual were entertaining. They seem to get a little more embellished each passing year! I want to thank the guys who were able to come back this past weekend and we hope to see a few more alumni around at our games this season.

The RSEQ season opens up this Saturday at BU as we take on Alex Bernard and the UQAM Citadins. Bernard is arguably the best player in our league and is always a serious threat to score 30 and carry his team. We will definitely have our hands full with a much improved UQAM squad. Game time is 8 pm!

Gaiter Alumni Game 2013