Another Split Weekend

Friday at Laval

BU        21    10    18    23   -   72
UL        14    12    16    15   -   57

This was supposed to be the tougher game to win. However, I think our guys have a comfort level playing in Laval's new gym and there does not seem to be much of a home court advantage from that perspective. We

Matt 15 pts, 7 rebounds, 4 assists

 played pretty solidly at both ends of the floor throughout the game. With the exception of giving up 21 points to Laval off our turnovers it was a nice team effort. We had 4 guys in double figures scoring, we had 24 assists on 29 field goals and out-rebounded Laval by 10.

Matt led us in scoring with 15 points and added 7 rebounds & 4 assists. Karim & Kyle each scored 13 while Jona came off the bench to knock down four 3 pointers for 12 points.



Saturday vs. Laval

BU        16    11    20     8   -   55
UL        14    15    12    16  -   57

Another nice crowd at BU. Impressed with the support we are getting despite the gym situation. Very blessed to have the community support we have. Please keep hanging in...we SHOULD be in Mitchell by next game!!

We had a decent start and weathered some Laval  runs in the 1st half to be in 2 point game. After a shaky beginning to the 3rd quarter we found some momentum that lasted almost 15 minutes. Defensively we held Laval to about 12 points during that stretch scored 24 of our own. The wheels fell off in the final 5 minutes as we just could not score and did not generate any viable offense. We were also dealing with foul trouble as Big Mike fouled out followed by Kyle who picked up his 5th foul while wiping away the defender's hand which was on his hip while driving to the rim. It can be very tough for every team to score in our league at times due to the liberties that the defense are allowed take on offensive players.

Regardless, with 25 seconds to go we were up 55-54. Laval came down and we guarded their initial action before they were able to get into the paint & kick it out for a contested 3 that they knocked down with 7 seconds to go. We were unable to score on our last possession and another tough loss was in the books. The frustrating part was we were one basket away from putting Laval away with about 3 or 4 minutes to go...1 more hoop would have broken them and it would have been a 15 pt win. That is the game though and there is always a lot to learn from it and why you never give up!

Karim...returning to Allstar form!

Despite the result we are in 2nd place tied with Laval with a 5-5 league record. We are getting better each week and are moving closer towards playing to our potential. We are healthier than we have been all season and the rest of our schedule sets up pretty well for us. We should be able to play our first true home game on February 6th (make no mistake, there is difference playing in Mitchell, but it does not guarantee anything!) and 5 of our last 6 games will be in Mitchell along with the RSEQ Final 4.

We have bye week now and do not play again until we face UQAM on February 6th here. Final road game v. RSEQ opponents is February 7th at UQAM.

I will keep you posted!
Rod

Gaiters Split Weekend

Thursday @ Concordia
                                       
BU      18   15   21   19   11   -  84
CU      18   20   23   12   13  -  86

This overtime loss dropped our record to 3-4 in league play and a lot worse overall. Even my 7 year old daughter told me we should have a better record. I could not agree more and it obviously does not take a basketball savant to figure that out. Fortunately, the season is far from over and we will have the opportunity make amends for what has been a pretty disappointing season record wise so far.

Dave Belanger 16 pts on Saturday

I think we played  hard this game and did some things well. However,  Concordia was very comfortable, played well together and confidently hit some tough shots. We were not great and did not play to our capacity, but Concordia earned the win. After spotting Concordia a 14 point lead in the 3rd we battled back to take a 1 point lead in the 4th quarter. Concordia pushed back and held a 3 point lead with 30 seconds to go. We managed to tie the game on a Majid 3 pointer with about 20 seconds to go. Concordia missed a shot to win at the buzzer and we went to overtime. The game was tight again in overtime, but Concordia executed better than us and got the win.

Kyle was fantastic and kept us in the game almost by himself at times. He had 29 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals & 4 assists. Matt had 17 points while Majid contributed 13 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists. We had 23 assists  for  the game, but lost it with 22 turnovers and a few weak defensive efforts in the 3rd quarter.

Saturday vs. Concordia 

BU      11   15   15   18   -   59
CU       6   12   12   10    -   40

This was not the most exciting game played on campus! Combination of the slow tempo and playing in the new gym. The new gym, as currently designed, is a fantastic gym and practice facility, but it certainly lacks the character & energy of the Mitchell gym. Regardless, we very much appreciated the nice sized crowd and their support. We needed the win and that is all that matters.

Karim season high 15 pts

We decided to change things up and we went with a bigger line-up to start and played zone defense. The plan was to not stay in the zone too long, but when you only give up 18 points in the half you can't really change your method!  I don't think the zone is the answer to all our problems, but it was it was effective this night allowing us to stay in control from start to finish.

Dave Belanger led all scorers with 16 and he provided some toughness in the paint. Karim added a season high 15 points while Big Mike chipped in with 13 and 10 rebounds. Some flashes of improvement, but still a lot of things to work on before we can seriously think about knocking off the teams that are ahead of us like McGill and Laval.

Friday we travel to Ste. Foy to play Laval. Saturday we return to campus to play Laval in the back end of the home and home series. 

I will keep you posted!
Rod

Gaiters Drop Two vs. McGill

Thursday at McGill

BU      18    11    30    12  -  71
MU     21    18    17    22  -  78

We had a good week of  practice and had our complete line-up for the first  time  all season. We certainly made gains, but  not  enough to defeat McGill on Thursday.  We were  better  Thursday than over the Christmas Break at Ryerson, but were still inconsistent with effort and execution. Despite  that it was a close game that was tied  with less  than  3 minutes to go and was decided in the final  minutes. We turned the ball over in key situations which McGill capitalized on.

Kyle led us  with 19 points, 5 rebounds and 6 steals. Matt added 13 points & 9 rebounds while Big Mike chipped in with 12 points off the bench.

Saturday vs. McGill

BU      14     7    19    19  -  59
MU     18    11   14    19  -  62

It is always disappointing to lose, but when your guys play as hard as our guys  did you can take some solace in the fact that they have the heart to compete at a championship level. Our  guys battled every possession and the game was  pretty much a war. The officials  were certainly tested as the physicality of the game, speed of play and level of intensity was high.

The game was as close as the score would indicate. The game was tied or the lead changed a total of 8 times in the final 3 minutes. Unfortunately McGill knocked down a contested 3 point shot with 4 seconds to go to break the tie and win the game. We got a decent look to tie the game with a second to go, but the shot was off the mark.

Despite the loss, it was the best 40 minutes of defensive basketball we have played all year. We are still not playing at the capacity we are capable of playing at, but we are making strides with the core of our roster back & playing. Still working out some kinks on both sides of the ball.

Kyle was outstanding again as his game is rounding into shape. He had 20 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Jona provided a scoring spark adding 14 points. He was also very good in the Thursday game vs. McGill.

Thursday we are Concordia for an 8 pm start and then return back to BU on Saturday to face the Stingers again. Last week at BU we played in the new gym. It  is a fantastic gym and practice facility, but it certainly does not have the atmosphere the Mitchell Gymnasium. Looking forward to getting back into our own gym at  some point in the near future!

I will keep you posted!
Rod

Holiday Games @ Ryerson

December 28th vs. Mohawk College @ Ryerson

BU       25    25    23    25  -  98
MC      24    26    23    26  -  99

Well this was a classic game of 2 teams who did not play defense. We got whatever we wanted offensively and they have some offensively talented guys who really put on some impressive individual performances. Mohawk showed why many think that they are a strong contender to win a CCAA championship this year, but it would have been nice if we could have had a better defensive performance.

As you can tell by the line score the game was close throughout. Each team scored on all of their final 3 possessions of the game. Just worked out that Mohawk had the last shot and scored  a pull-up jumper with 3 seconds to go for the win. 

We had multiple players score in double figures, but we did not have any strong defensive performances to speak of.

December 29th vs. #3  Ryerson

BU      22   10    5   23  -  60
RU      20   24   31  22  -  97

December 30th vs. #3 Ryerson

BU     15   12   14   16  -  57
RU     16   31   26   25  -  98

Ryerson is the #3 ranked team in the CIS and rightly so. They finished the 1st semester with a couple decisive losses to #1 Carleton  & #2 Ottawa. Everyone expected those games to be closer and I would bet the coaches really had their players attention for the month of December! They were very impressive in both the games we played and simply put, we got kicked. I cannot imagine them playing much better and I can only hope we will learn from this.

We played well in the 1st quarter in both games, but that does not count for much. We did not have great individually performances to speak of in either game.

Really want to thank the friends, family and alumni who came out to support us in Toronto. Your support as always is appreciated.


Thursday we are at McGill to face the Redmen at 8pm. On Saturday we play our first home game of the year on the Bishop's campus somewhere...don't know what gym we will be playing in! Don't ask me anything about our Sports Centre as I won't have the answer...unfortunately!! (insert sigh here)

Happy New Year and I hope to see you at our games in the next 10 weeks!
Rod