Positive Finish to 1st Semester

Saturday at Concordia

BU          13    13    17    23   -   66
CU          25     8     15    12   -   60

The good thing about blowing a 20 point 2nd quarter lead the week before vs. Laval was that when we got down 25-9 in the 1st quarter vs. Concordia we knew the game was far from over. So, it hurt to lose a winnable game the week before, but it really provided us with an experience that helped us hang in Saturday. With a team as young as ours there is no shortage of teachable moments!

As mentioned, we were down big early at Concordia. However, our guys just kept grinding and we really played pretty well the final 33 minutes of the game. We never did make a huge run, but we played hard defensively without fouling, rebounded well (41-30 in our favour) and took care of the basketball with a very respectable 14 turnovers.

Freshman Forward Nick Harvey

We took our first lead with about 7 minutes to go and never relinquished the lead in the final 4:50 of the game. We had a lot of solid performances in the this game from our freshmen...Yassin Naji played some excellent D & grabbed an offensive rebound which sealed the win, Austin Macklem provided 19 minutes of turnover free basketball with some good D and 5 points, Abdul had 8 second half points which keyed our run, Big Jonah gave us some good minutes off the bench & is getting better (& fitter, he has lost over 55 pounds since August!) every day, but Nick Harvey who was returning to the line-up in a full time capacity after a concussion was the guy that really stood out from a freshmen perspective. He had 11 points & 13 rebounds in 26 minutes. He dominated the glass and made some key plays at crucial times. He, like a few of our freshmen, has a chance to be a special player here.

Jona Bermillo took over the 4th quarter scoring 11 of his 19 points down the stretch. Pete Weston continues to provide consistent play in the backcourt with Jona as he added 12 while playing a solid all around game.

The win leaves us at 1-3 in league play with only McGill having a record of better than 2-2. For a team that has had up to 7 freshmen figure prominently in our playing rotation we are not in bad shape. There have been some trying times due to our youth, but this team is a lot of fun to coach. Their work ethic & character allows them to get better each week. This bodes well for us heading into the New Year.

Also, just wanted publicly congratulate Gaiter alum,  Matt McLean, who was drafted by the NBL London Lightning. London is one of the top franchises in Canada's premier pro league and we want to wish Matt the very best when he attends their training camp in early December!  Matt has really worked hard to become a player and their is no doubt he would be a solid addition to their club.

We don't play again until January 7th at UQAM. Just a post Christmas Training Camp and no tournament this holiday season. I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season!
Rod