Home Teams Protect Home Court

Friday vs. Laval

BU       26   21   14   26  -  87
UL       18   21   18   19  -  76

This was the 2nd weekend of the home & home portion of our league schedule. Beating any team twice in a row is never easy and Laval is very formidable. They have size to match up with us and some talented perimeter players. They certainly gave us some problems defensively all weekend and when they get going they are very difficult to stop. Fortunately we are starting to become a lot more cohesive offensively as we shot almost 54% from the floor on Friday night.

We had a strong 1st quarter scoring 26 points, but we could not shake Laval until the final quarter

Dave Belanger - BU Athlete of the Week

when we went on a 10-2 run and had a 16 point lead just over 5 minutes to go. Although we played well in the 4th quarter it was costly as we lost Jona & Majid to ankle injuries. We had already lost Matt in earlier in the game as he was fouled with excessive force & pulled to the floor on a dunk attempt in the 1st quarter. We did not have any of those 3 guys on Saturday night, but hope to have them back soon.

Freshman Dave Belanger continues to shine. Dave had 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead us. Big Mike is rounding back into form as we saw glimpses of what made him the league MVP last year. He had 14 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Onnex & Scott had 11 & 10 a piece while Jona and Majid chipped in 9 each. Jona led us with 5 assists while Majid had 10 rebounds as well. Freshman Chris Henny had a career high 7 points and did a nice job off the bench.

Saturday @ Laval

BU       23   11   14   26  -  74
UL       22   19   23   21  -  85

Playing without Matt, Jona & Majid was going to be a challenge, but I felt we could be up to the task. It left us with 3 veterans and 7 freshman dressed to play. Unfortunately Laval was too good for us on this night. We struggled defensively and Laval did a nice job of attacking throughout the game.

The bright spots for us were the continued good play of Dave and Big Mike. They each had 24 points and combined for 19 rebounds while shooting 73% from the floor. We struggled making open shots and we could not keep pace with Laval.

Big Mike 24 & 10 Saturday night

Next up we travel to McGill on Thursday night to play them at 8 pm before hosting them on Saturday night in our annual Winter Homecoming game. We hope to have a better performance at McGill on Thursday than the drubbing we received at the end of the 1st semester. Hope to see a few friends, family and alumni at the game Thursday night.

Too our Men's Basketball Alumni, if you are able to be here on Saturday there is an open gym from 3 to 4:30 for an alumni scrimmage as well as a post game reception at the Sports Centre immediately after the game. Hope to see a few of you back on Saturday!

I will keep you posted!
Rod

Gaiters Sweep UQAM to Move to 5-1 in RSEQ

Friday at UQAM

BU             11   27   15   18  -  71
UQAM      13    7    18   12  -  50

After a sluggish 1st quarter we were able to get some easy scores on the fast break off our defense and by attacking UQAM's zone pressure in the 2nd quarter. We did a good job moving the ball at times and executed well defensively while pressuring the ball. Our guys played very hard and were rewarded for their effort.

Freshman David Belanger

After being up 18 at halftime we were able to turn back UQAM's only run at us in the 2nd half relatively easily as they got not closer than 11 points. Rookie David Belanger & Onnex led all scorers with 14 points each. Big Mike and Scott added 12 & 11 points respectively in a relatively balanced attack.






Saturday @ BU

BU            21   20   23   19  -  83
UQAM     20   15   28   19  -  82

After executing so well the night before on defense we struggled on Saturday vs. UQAM. We gave up dribble penetration too easily and fouled too much. After only committing 8 fouls in the first half we committed a whopping 12 in the 3rd quarter which led to 21 points that UQAM scored from the line in the 2nd half. UQAM took advantage of our lack of discipline in that area making 30 of 35 free throws. That was way too reminiscent of how we lost the league final at McGill last year...happy we won this game, but not happy with the process!

Usually when you hold a team to 39% shooting while shooting 49% yourself and outrebounding them

2nd year guard, Jona Bermillo

54-23 you don't need a 3 point shot at the buzzer to win! Check out this link to see Jona's buzzer beating 3 to win the game. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10153702136820371 
UQAM took an 82-80 lead on 2 free throws with 6 seconds to go. We called a time-out and ran an out of bounds play that got Jona a good look to win the game. Despite bobbling the inbounds pass, Matt did not panic and found Jona open who confidently made the game winner  much to the joy of the BU crowd.

Jona led us in scoring (16 points), rebounding  (7) and assists (6) and pretty much carried us at times. Scott provided timely scoring in the 2nd half as did Majid and they each had 14 points. Onnex had a quiet 15 points and Matt chipped in with 10 and 7 rebounds.

The 2 wins have us tied with McGill for first place at 5-1. I really believe in our guys & that this will end up being a very special season. We have yet to play our best basketball, but it is gradually getting better & better. The season is a process and without struggles there is no progress.

We host Laval on Friday and then head to Laval on Saturday to play in the brand new state of the art gymnasium. Games can be watched on-line. Go to www.gaiters.ca to get the info on the links.
I will keep you posted.
Rod

Gaiters Go 1-2 @ Dalhousie's Shoveller Tourney

Thursday January 2^nd @ Dalhousie

BU     15   15   13   21  -  64

Dal    19   18   19   16  -  72

Opening up against the home team in their own tournament is never an easy thing. Unfortunately, we were not up to the task. Dalhousie did a good job off rebounding the basketball and keeping us off balance. We never really did find a rhythm in this game. We lost Scott Ring very early in the 2^nd quarter to a deep bruise on his knee and he was done for the weekend. This did not help us. However, we had enough to give Dal a better game.

We did not have any individual performances worth noting, but Matt McLean did play with a lot of intensity and was rewarded with a  tournament allstar at the end of the weekend.

Friday January 3^rd vs. Saint Mary’s

BU        31   12   15   14  -  72

SMU     20   16    6   11  -  53

Saint Mary’s spent the better part of the 1^st semester ranked in the Top 10. However, like us they were missing key players in this game, but seemed to struggle a lot more adjusting than we did. I thought we did a good job of establishing our post game and limiting their dribble penetration. That along with controlling the tempo made all the difference.

We had good balance with 4 double digit scorers. Onnex led us with 19 while Jona & Majid had 13 each. Big Mike had 10 in limited minutes due to foul trouble.

Saturday January 4^th vs. St. Francis Xavier

BU       12   16   10   22  -  60

St.FX   14   19   12   21  -  66

When we made St.FX play halfcourt offense we had good success. When we allowed them to run we were in trouble. Their defense created some turnover that they were able run off of and they pretty much controlled the tempo for a good part of the game. With 3 minutes to go they were up 9, but we did manage to claw back to even with about 30 seconds to go before they went ahead off a nice behind the back pass in the lane for a lay-up. Out of the time-out we missed a driving lay-up that rolled off the front of the rim and from there we had to foul to catch up. St. FX put the game away at the foul line.

Jona led all scorers with 18 points while Onnex was very good scoring 16. Matt added 10 rebounds and 8 points in another good effort.

We have bye this weekend, but are back in action next week with a home & home vs. UQAM as we start our charge in RSEQ action. I will keep you posted!