End of Semester Stumble

Saturday at UQAM

BU               21   15    20    22   -   78
UQAM        19   27    23    14   -    83

This was a disappointing way to finish the semester. The loss leaves us alone in 1st place in the RSEQ with a record of 3-1, but that still does not  sit well with us as you really hate losing that last game of the semester.

It was a challenging week as our team suffered our 4th and 5th concussions in the last 8 weeks...before you ask, we are not doing any stupid drills like diving on the floor to recover loose balls etc...! It has been just dumb luck. So, we played the game without 5 of our top 12 guys and were missing 4 of our top 8 or 9.  That is not why we lost though, UQAM was missing there best player and he is extremely valuable to them.

Kyle 22 pts

We struggled defensively guarding the ball and missed too many layups. Our offense was not great, but still had a number of great opportunities to score. Defensively, well we will get better and this will be addressed in December. A couple of weeks off will not only help us get healthier as we expect to have everyone back by January, but it also will allow us to evaluate what we need to focus on  to achieve our goals in the 2nd half of the season.

Kyle led us in scoring with 21 pts. Jona added 18 & 4 assists. Big Mike and Karim scored 12 and 11 respectively. We got a good effort from freshman Mathew Van Doorn off the bench who played some tough D and scored 8 points.

Our team is in the midst of writing final exams now and we will resume practice in 10 days. Our next competition will be at the Ryerson National Invitational from December 28-30. The schedule is pending and I will make it available as soon as I have it.
I will keep you posted!
Rod

Gaiters Top Laval on the Road

Thursday at Laval

BU      13    17    23    18   -   71
UL      15    12    20    11   -   58

This certainly was not a pretty game in the first quarter as we were awful the first 6 minutes and were not able to score. The only thing we did well was turning over the ball! We recovered from the terrible start and played better the rest of the way, but I cannot say we played that well...too many fouls and too many turnovers! We will take the road win vs. a dangerous team any day though. Especially since we were missing the inside presence of Dave Belanger and our starting PG Kurt Caro due to injury.

Jamil  Abiad 12 pts @ Laval

Matt, Kyle and PK ignited our comeback in the first quarter with their defense. However, the story of the game for us was our bench as they scored 36 pts. Big Mike had 16 pts, 11 rebounds and 3 blocked shots, but had limited playing time due to foul issues...nice to see him producing at the rate we know he can. Jamil Abiad and freshman Mathew Van Doorn played extended minutes and were integral to our success in the second half as Jona & Kyle sat the better part of the second half in foul trouble. Jamil had a career high 12 points and Mathew (aka 'White Chocolate' aka 'Choco Blanc') had 6 pts and 4 assists. Mathew is a slick passer and a very athletic guard. He looks like and has a game similar to former NBA guard Jason Williams who was nicknamed 'White Chocolate'...our guys  picked up on that right away & added the French version too!

Matt McLean returned to the form he showed late last season as he had 16 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. He knocked down a 3 point shot with a couple of minutes to go to put the game on ice and provided his usual defensive energy throughout. Majid was quiet offensively, but made a couple of timely shots. More importantly he did a great job on the glass grabbing 12 rebounds. Karim struggled early in the game, but kept things together for us in the second half.  He also did a great job rebounding as he grabbed 10 rebounds  and added 4 assists.

We close out the first semester this Saturday at UQAM @ 7 pm. (note the earlier time!). UQAM has league MVP candidate Alex Bernard and a host of skilled and athletic guards. They always play well at home and we can expect a very intense game. We hope to see you at the game!

Rod

Gaiters Move to 2-0 in RSEQ

Thursday @ Concordia

BU      20   23   11   22   -  76
CU      12   13   19   25   -  69

Concordia  was coming off a big win over Laval last week. So, we knew  they would be playing with some confidence. Especially in their own gym. Fortunately our guys matched and bettered their intensity in the first half building an 18 point lead  at the half. We were not perfect, but we did  do some things well both offensively & defensively.

Majid Naji...solid play the last few weeks.

The 2nd half was a different story. Concordia came  out and simply played harder  than us. The game got  a bit frenetic as it does in that gym at times and we (including me!) were not as composed as we could have  been. We were up 12  or  14 with 3 minutes  to go,  but Concordia did not  relent and with a couple of breaks they cut the lead to 4 at one point very briefly with under a minute to go. Some positives and some negatives in the game. Either way we will take the road win.

Kyle  led all scorers with 18 points. Big Mike had 12 points, 7 rebounds & 4 blocked shots. Jona & Karim each chipped in with 10 a piece while Kurt had 9 points, 5 rebounds & 3 assists.

We play our 3rd of 5 straight road games this  Thursday at Laval. This will be a difficult game as Laval may have the best combination of talent & athleticism in the league. They have a lot  of weapons that can be a challenge to contain. Game time is 8 pm...you will be able to  find the webcast link on www.gaiters.ca later this week. 

In other exciting news, we received our first recruiting commitment this week from 6'6 forward Owen Martel of Georgetown, ON. Owen is a high level athlete and a great kid. He is someone who will represent our program very well in the community, in the classroom and on the basketball court. He is very well coached by Steve Pettit at Georgetown District High School and Zelimir Stevanovic at IBSA, one off the premier club programs in Ontario. I believe Owen will  have an impact on our program in his first year and has a chance to be a very special  player at BU. At 6'6, with a 6'9 wingspan & close to a 40 inch vertical  jump, he will have the ability to play on the wing or inside. We are very pleased to welcome Owen to our program!

I will keep you posted!
Rod

Gaiters Win at McGill to Open RSEQ

Saturday at McGill 

BU      12    9   15   24  -  60
MU     13   15   9    22  -  59

This was the first of many brawls, so to speak, we will have with McGill this year. Both teams are physical and defensive minded which does not make for the prettiest basketball. Regardless, it was very competitive and certainly exciting at the end.

PG Kurt Caro...5 assists, 1 turnover v. McGill

We may not have had the lead for a full minute this game, but all that mattered was that we led at the end of 40 minutes. McGill took the lead early and we played catch up for the better part of the game. We did take a lead briefly in the 3rd quarter, but McGill pushed ahead midway through the 4th.

With 37 seconds to go we were down 59-52, but our guys executed well and managed to score 8 points in a very improbable 17 seconds. McGill acquiesced by missing  free throws & turning the ball over after we missed a free throw to open the door for us. In that stretch Majid scored a 3 point shot off a sideline inbounds play, Kurt scored a layup in transition & Majid scored the winning points off a 3 point shot off a baseline out of bounds play. That left McGill with 20 seconds to win the game. We defended very well and forced them into a scramble situation where they got a very good a look at the rim with 3 seconds to go that fortunately missed! After the ball got batted around Karim secured the rebound and the win.

Kyle 13 points

Coach Craig Norman did a great job preparing our guys defensively early in the week to play McGill. We did make a few mistakes, but we played hard and played as a team not giving up too many easy hoops. Offensively, Kyle & Majid (he deserves a picture on this post...I will locate 1 for next week!) each had 13 points to lead us. Karim had 11 rebounds while PK came of the bench to grab 6 rebounds, take 2 charges while playing some excellent defense. We had contributions from everyone and our team chemistry is really starting to come along. I like the direction our team is headed and getting this win is exactly what we needed.

We have one game this week. Thursday at 8 pm vs. Concordia. Both teams are 1-0 in RSEQ play. It should be a great game. Hope to see you there.
Rod 

Gaiters Topped by Cardinals

Saturday at Plattsburgh State

BU       27    37  -  64
PSU     33    34  -  67

Another tough loss on Saturday. We traveled down to Plattsburgh, NY  and faced a very athletic & physical team who reached the NCAA D3 Sweet Sixteen last season. Great environment to play in as it was similar to our gym crowd wise. We got better playing the game, just a bit disheartening losing that game. Our psyche is certainly being tested right now.

After our good start PSU got rolling and erased our 8 point lead. They went on a run that carried them to a 6 point halftime lead. The 2nd half was tight for the first few minutes until PSU went on another run climbing into a 14 point lead. Instead of crumbling, we fought back and closed their lead to 1 with a minute to go. We fouled and they converted their free throws to go up at the end. We had a couple of great looks at the hoop to tie the game, but they did not fall.

Jona  led us with 15 points while Majid and PK each added 10 points. PK  had a game high 11 rebounds and Majid continues to do a good job on the glass as he collected 9 rebounds.

Jona Bermillo, 15 pts on Saturday

Saturday we open up against a very deep McGill team, they have a whopping 20 legitimate CIS players on their roster and seem to have gotten contributions from most of them at some point during pre-season. It will be a difficult test as we are on the road playing the team that is the odds on favourite to win our league. Not sure how many players we will have dressed on Saturday, but our roster will be smaller (both in height & numbers) than we would like. Regardless, we will have to figure out how to make our own luck as we are playing the games that truly count now!

Game time is 8 pm this Saturday at McGill.
Rod

Gaiters @ Plattsburgh State

On Saturday we travel to Plattsburgh State to play a very talented and athletic team. We expect to see an experienced team that thrives on their pressure defense and the ability to shoot the 3 ball. It will be good preparation for our game next week vs. McGill. 

Kurt Caro 2nd yr Point Guard

If  you want to follow the live stats here is the link:

http://sidearmstats.com/plattsburgh/mbball/

Game report to follow on Monday. Have a great weekend! 
Rod

Jack Donahue Tourney @ U of Ottawa

Friday vs. U of Toronto

BU            21    21    26    23  -  91
UofT         25    22    18    32  -  97

Believe it or not this was not the worst defensive game we have played in the last few years, but it may have been the most points we have given up!  UofT had one of their guys just get really hot scoring 40 points on mostly very difficult shots. A very good player, but this was not the norm for him by any

Kyle Desmarais - 32 pts

stretch and not exactly what we expected. Regardless, he made the shots and we lost the game because of it.

On the bright side we did score the ball well and are starting to play together better on the offensive end.  Majid Naji had his best weekend as a Gaiter providing solid defense & rebounding while scoring the ball as we all know he can.

Kyle Desmarais is coming into form and showing what made him the best player in our league a couple years ago. Kyle had 32 points in this game. Majid added 15, Jona had 12 and Matt McLean contributed 10 pts and 10 rebounds. Kurt Caro had 9 assists while Karim Sy-Morrisette added 9 points and 8 rebounds.

Saturday vs. Ottawa

BU      18    15    12    21  -  66
UO      20    21    19    20  -  80

The game got off to a rocky start as we were down 14 or 15 in the first quarter. That is not a good thing when you are playing what will be the #2 ranked team in the CIS and a team who has beaten the

Sr. Guard - Jamil Abiad

Indiana Hoosiers 109-100 already! To our guys' credit they hung tough and persevered bringing the game back by the end of the quarter. Jamil Abiad  keyed some transition hoops down that stretch.

We uncharacteristically turned the ball over 25 times...we are averaging about half that and we just never gave ourselves a real chance to win because of that. We would hang around and be poised to make a run, but then shoot ourselves in the foot. Regardless, we battled and played hard holding Ottawa to about 17 points below their average.

Kyle led us with 17 points and Majid added 12 points and 7 rebounds. Patrik Kabongo was back in the line-up after a year away and he provided the usually spark defensively and added 10 points. We really missed PK in Victoria and we feel he will add a lot to our team this year.


Sunday vs. Worcester Polytechnic Institute @ Bishop's College School - Lennoxville

BU       8    15    21    10  -  54
WPI    19   17    15     5   -  56

WPI was supposed to be at the Ottawa Tournament, but after the tragic incident in Ottawa last Wednesday their school president cancelled the team's trip. Since we needed the game we offered to host them here for a game, but not in our gym...the frustrations of our construction situation!! So, we left Ottawa Saturday night and returned to Lennoxville to face WPI Sunday. This was going to be a difficult test for our team as WPI has won their conference 9 of the last 11 years. 

Karim Sy-Morrisette

WPI was fresh and jumped on us in the first half as we struggled with their aggressive play. We showed a lot of character & determination though in the 2nd half grinding our way back to take the lead with a few minutes to go. Holding WPI to 5 points in the 4th quarter was impressive and there were no easy minutes in any of the games this weekend. We missed some great looks at the basket down the stretch and just could get not get that final hoop we needed in the final seconds.

That leaves us at disappointing 0-6 right now. Despite our injuries and the great competition we have faced it is not where we want to be. However, our guys are resilient and we are continually getting better. As they say, the season is marathon and not a sprint. So, there is no need to panic yet!

This Saturday we travel to Plattsburgh State to play a very good NCAA D3 team who was made it to the NCAA D3 Sweet 16 last season. Another tough opponent that will help us prepare for our league. Game time is 5 pm for anyone who is down there shopping that day!!

Keep you posted,
Rod

Schedule Change for Ottawa - Jack Donahue Tourney

Everyone,
Please note that we have a schedule change for the Jack Donahue Tournament this weekend. The admin at Massachusetts based WPI decided their basketball team should not travel to Ottawa due to the tragic incident Wednesday on Parliament Hill which we can understand.

Here is the updated schedule:

Friday @ U of Ottawa
8:00 vs. U of Toronto
*BU reception to follow at Royal Oak (see previous post for details)

Saturday @ U of Ottawa
7:00 pm vs. U of Ottawa

*this game can be viewed @  www.oua.tv


Sunday - No game.

Gaiters Off the Ottawa this Weekend

Hi Everyone,
Well we are finally back to playing again after 2 weeks off following our trip to Victoria. It has been a challenging time dealing with injuries, but we are making some strides. We are slowly coming together and are looking forward to getting our complete team on the floor at some point.

This weekend we are playing in the Jack Donahue tournament at the U of Ottawa. Friday night @ 8 pm we play a very solid U of T team that will be coming off a quality win over the U of Sask. Saturday @ 8 pm we face the Ottawa Gees Gees who are right there with Carleton this year. They beat Indiana in August have been obliterating CIS competition. On Sunday @ Noon we face Worcester Polytechnical Institute who is a strong NCAA D3 program.

Friday night there is a reception following our game vs. Toronto. Check below for the details. We hope to see a few of you out at the games & the reception on Friday night.
Rod

Come cheer on the Bishop's Gaiters Men's Basketball Team! BU vs. U of T - 8 pm, Friday, October 24 POST-GAME RECEPTION to follow at 10 pm

Bishop's alumni, parents and friends are warmly invited to attend a basketball post-game reception in Ottawa on October 24! The Gaiters take on the U of T Blues Friday night at 8 pm at the University of Ottawa - cheer them on wearing your best purple gear, and then join us to catch up with fellow alumni and fans after the game. Post-Game Event Details Date: Friday, October 24, 2014 Time: 10:00 pm Location: Royal Oak Pub, 161 Laurier Ave East (just across from U of O campus) Game tickets: Available online, at U of O's Montpetit Hall, or Minto Sports Complex Client Services. Games are held in Montpetit Hall Gym, 125 University on U of O's campus. RSVP for post-game event: Not required, but very much appreciated so we can plan accordingly. Let us know you're coming by joining the event on Facebook! If you'd like to have dinner at the Royal Oak before the game on Friday, please call the pub directly to make your reservation at 613-230-9223. Sports note: The Gaiters will be in town all weekend for the Jack Donohue Tournament at the University of Ottawa, playing the host Gee-Gees on Saturday, October 25 at 8 pm and Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Sunday, October 26 at noon - come on out and show your support! Special thanks to Cathy McLean '82 for organizing this event! Sincerely, Sarah Haddon '01 Alumni Relations Coordinator and Researcher shaddon@ubishops.ca 819-822-9600 x2319 Like us on Facebook! BU Alumni: Ottawa Chapter

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Despite Results, Good Start to the Season

University of Victoria - Guy Vetrie Invitational Results

Friday vs. Carleton

BU      15     22     12     14   -   63
CU      18     19     23     23   -   83

Well we were in the game for  about 30 minutes which is about 25 minutes longer than any other game we have played vs. Carleton in the previous few years! We played a solid first half offensively and defensively, but got fatigued in the 3rd quarter which led to some fouls that put us in a difficult position.

Being down 11 to start the 4th quarter is not the end of the world, but we just could not contain 3 time CIS MVP Phil Scrubb when it counted. Phil along with his brother Tom are pretty special players and they took over the game when Carleton needed them to.

Kyle Desmarais,  5th year guard

We had solid performances from 2nd yr  guard Kurt Caro, 2nd yr post Dave Belanger and 3rd yr  guard Karim Sy-Morissette. Kyle  Desmarais was excellent as he led us with 20 points going 3-3 from the 3 point line along with some fantastic finishes at the rim. All in all, a good effort against a team that has soundly defeated some top level NCAA programs this year already...they beat the Memphis Tigers by 32 in late August! A 20 point loss in our first game to a team like Carleton after about 3 weeks of practice is not so bad. Regardless, lots of things to work on.

Saturday vs. Alberta

BU      21     14     21     13   -   69
UA      23     25    19     12   -   79

We went from the frying pan into the fire all weekend. I feel safe in saying there won't be a better 4 team tournament in the CIS this year. All 4 teams are top 10 teams and the 3 we played are likely all top 5.

After a good start by Jona Bermillo, 14 first quarter points, Alberta got on a roll in the 2nd quarter and we could not match their energy. They built up a double digit lead that served them well the rest of the game. We  made runs at them in the 2nd half, but they always had an answer. We had them on the run with about 2 minutes to go before their 5th year All Canadian candidate knocked down a contested fade away 3 pointer. That pretty much ended our run.

Jona led us with a career high 32 points including a 7-12 explosion from the 3 point line. We are shooting the ball much better this year as a team which was evident in the first 2 games of the weekend where we shot 19-43 from the 3 point line. However, we did severely falter the last day vs. UVIC. Kyle added 10 points we did not get a lot of offense otherwise.

Sunday vs. UVIC

BU        18     12     17     16   -   63
UVIC    14      6      24     23   -   67

We had an excellent first half defensively and a decent one offensively. If we could have  converted a few more easy scoring chances...we missed a few shots a point blank range, we may have been up 16 or 18 at the half! Regardless, our execution at both ends of the floor was getting better and we started to find our identity again. We did a good job of getting the ball inside and had some fantastic defensive possessions.

Early in the 3rd quarter we had built a 12 point lead, but the wheels fell off for a bit and UVIC was able to close that game to 3 points by the end of the 3rd Q. The game remained close the rest of the way, but we simply ran out of gas and UVIC executed a little better than we did. At this point our conditioning is not where we need it to be, but it will be there sooner than later.

Mike Andrews, Dave Belanger and Kyle  Desmarais all reached double figures. Kurt Caro had 8 points and 4 assists to go along with some inspired defensive pressure. Kurt has really had a positive impact on our team this year after an up and down rookie season last year.

2nd yr PG Kurt Caro

It was disappointing to not get a win this past weekend. We had our chances in the last couple of games. We were without the services of defensive stopper Patrik Kabongo who received a mild concussion in practice the day before we left. We certainly could have used him. Overall it was a great experience against the teams we are planning to see in March. We learned a lot  about ourselves and return from Victoria a much much better team having faced 3 talented and very well coached teams.

Despite being so far from home, it was nice to see the friendly faces (Blair Shier, Jordan Winnett & Katy Germain) of a few of our alumni. Special thanks again to Blair who once again did a fantastic job of getting some excellent action shots of our guys in lieu of relaxing and watching the games! Also, a big thank you to Blair for feeding our guys on Sunday night!!

Next games are in 3 weeks  at U of Ottawa's Jack Donahue Tournament. Keep posted for updates on game times!!
Rod

Gaiters Open 2014-15 Season in BC

Lots of excitement on campus with the construction and the potential of the experienced team we will field this season. The new athletic complex is coming together slowly, but surely...much like our team!! It is likely that some of our team's best basketball will coincide with the completion of the construction here in January. Like the building, we have some nice pieces, but it is going to take some time to put it all together.

This week we open up non-conference play on the road as we head to Victoria to play 3 of the semi-finalists from last year's CIS Final 8, including the perennial champion Carleton Ravens. Carleton is our first day match-up and will be followed by Alberta and Victoria. It's kind of like playing a Canadian version of Kentucky, Kansas and UCLA on the same weekend! Some great competition and an opportunity to measure ourselves against some of the top programs in the CIS.
 

Fri October 3th

6 pm Carleton vs. Bishops

 

Saturday October 4th

4 pm Bishops vs. Alberta

Sunday October 5th

2 pm Bishops vs. Victoria

We expect to be anchored by our veteran front court of Matt McLean, Majid Naji, Mike Andrews and David Belanger.  Returning guards Jona Bermillo and Kurt Caro expect to be mainstays in our line-up and will be provide a solid core along with the addition of guards Kyle Desmarais (Concordia transfer), Karim Sy-Morrisette (McGill transfer) and Patrik Kabongo, who returns to the Gaiters after a year off. Returning veteran Jamil Abiad along with rookies Mathew Van Doorn, Serge Khayipangi, Jonathan Kabongo & Nikola Jovicic expect to provide the Gaiters with depth on the bench.


On Saturday we had a few alumni around for BU's Fall Homecoming and it was nice to touch base with them.We look forward to seeing a few more of you on the road this year and hopefully in our own gym in the new year.

Please check out our schedule: http://gaiters.ca/schedule.aspx?path=mbball

I will keep you posted!
Rod