Monday, 3 March 2014

Gaiters Top Concordia, But Falter vs. McGill in RSEQ Final 4

RSEQ Semi-final vs. Concordia - Saturday @ RSEQ Final Four

BU      18   18   16   22  - 74
CU      18   16   15   10  -  59

We accomplished something that very few Bishop's teams have ever done...we swept the entire season series vs. Concordia defeating them all 5 games we played this year. However, this game was the only one that was truly significant.

Despite being a little rattled and tight early we managed to tie the game at 18 by the end of the 1st quarter. We played pretty well in the 2nd, but Concordia's 5th year guard J-A Moussignac was on fire and he kept Concordia close. That was pretty much the same story in the 3rd quarter, but our top guys started to come alive in the 2nd half and we were able to pull away about midway through the 4th quarter.

It was balanced effort as Jona led us in scoring with 14. Jona was also named to the RSEQ 2nd Allstar team earlier in the week which is a nice honour for him. Matt was definitely the player of the game as he had 13 points, 10 rebounds & 5 assists. I don't think many realized how important he was to our team until he was out with a wrist injury for 3 or 4 weeks. He finished very strong and we are very hopeful that this was not his last weekend of basketball as a Gaiter...WOULD LOVE TO HAVE HIM BACK FOR HIS 5TH YEAR! Big Mike added 12 points and 8 rebounds while blocking 3 shots. 5th year Senior, Onnex Blackwood left nothing on the floor this weekend and scored 12 points in this game. Onnex has been a consistent scorer for 5 years and will be missed. Freshman Jaleel Webb added 8 points and 7 rebounds.

RSEQ Championship Final vs. McGill

BU         9   14    9   15  - 47
MU       24  16   24   9   - 73

We were never in this one. I was confident we were ready to play and I know our guys felt the same way. We definitely had some defensive breakdowns early, but our biggest issue was not converting opportunities on the offensive end. We missed too many shots inside and it never allowed us to build any momentum. It ended up being the same story in the 2nd half and the game was decided midway through the 3rd quarter.

McGill swept us this year and that was a disappointing turn of events. We expect to be better next year as we played a lot of freshmen this season who hopefully will develop even more over the course of the off season. We battled injuries constantly throughout the year...we did not have Majid this weekend who had a mild concussion...Matt & Scott missed several games...Jeremy sat out basically the whole year along with a constant variety of other guys missing games & practices. These impacted us, but I think we dealt with this pretty well all things considered. Through the adversity this was a great group of guys to coach. Despite the challenges they made it a positive experience and an enjoyable team to be around.

I want to thank our graduating Seniors Onnex Blackwood, Scott Ring & Matt McLean who have been a big part of the core of team for the past 4-5 years. We appreciate everything they have done for our program and hope we don't lose them all at once!

In other news, Mike & Jona were named to league allstar teams last week. Dave & Chris Henny were named to the league's all freshmen team. Scott Ring was named to represent our conference in the CIS awards for the Ken Shields' Award for community involvement as well as academic & athletic excellence. This nomination of  Scott typifies who he is...a great kid, leader, worker, competitor and representative of anything he is involved in.

I will keep you posted,
Rod