RSEQ Week #3

Saturday vs. McGill

BU          26      17      19      11   -   73
MU         15      26      20      20   -   81


It was an exciting day on campus. We were inducting former BU basketball stars Trevor Bennett & Cynthia Johnston, along with all time great athletic therapist, Steve King, into the BU-RBC Wall of Distinction. It was great to see so many alumni and friends of Gaiter basketball back to honour these 3 exceptional people. Along with that our women's team broke a multi year RSEQ game losing streak beating a very good McGill team by 22. I am very happy for the coaches & players, they deserved wins earlier in league, but had suffered the same fate as us.

Dave Belanger

Having very similar results as the women's team with some very close losses I was hopeful we would continue to follow the same path as them for at least one more day! McGill had their full complement of players this week and spanked Concordia by 40 on Thursday night. So, we knew this would be a tough game. It looked good early as we started well and played pretty good basketball for the better part of the game. It would have been an entertaining game to watch from the stands and both teams were playing at a  high level.

We managed to hold onto a 2 point half time lead after a shaky 2nd quarter which included missing an open layup at point blank range with 5 seconds to go that McGill rebounded and turned into a running 1 footed take off 3 point hoop from 30 feet out at the buzzer. One play never decides a game, but that was key and one of a handful of possessions that hurt us. Despite that I thought we executed well, played hard and competed every possession.

The game had 14 lead changes and after half time no one really had more than a 4 point lead until the

last 90 seconds of the game. With about 5 minutes to go it looked like McGill had a chance to put us away then, but we put together a couple of defensive stops and scored 5 straight points to take a one point lead. Unfortunately we struggled to score in the final 3 minutes...part of it was McGill's defense and part of it was us just missing good shots.  A couple of empty offensive possessions and a couple of possessions where McGill made big shots decided what was a closely played game. We have talked a lot about the importance of one possession with our guys. It is likely our season is not decided by a game, but by a possession. Top to bottom there is no league as competitive as ours.

So, that leaves us with a league record of 0-4 where we have lost 4 games in the final minutes or seconds. Getting that first victory will do a lot and when that happens we will be difficult to deal with. Dave led us in scoring with 16 points. Jona had 13 points and 5 assists while Nick chipped in 11 points. Abdul had a season high 5 assists.

We do not have a Christmas tournament again this year and will resume league play in January. Until then, I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season!
Rod

RSEQ Week #2

Friday @ Laval

BU      17      17       7      23   -   64
UL      20      14      20     20   -   74

Alex Boisse

It is pretty evident looking at the line score where our problem occurred! We were not exactly stellar in the 1st, 2nd or 4th quarters, but we struggled in the 3rd quarter. It seemed terrible when it was happening...and it was! However, it really was a matter of us missing some good shoots. We had good scoring opportunities on about 11 or 12 of our 18 offensive possessions in the 3rd quarter with 3 turnovers and 3 poor shot selections. We missed our last 10 shots of the quarter and at least 8 of them were decent quality looks.

We did manage to mount a comeback with about 7 or 8 minutes to go. We made some of the shots we missed in the previous quarter and narrowed the lead to 5 a few times. As a matter of fact it was a 5 point game with 1:45 left to go. Laval closed out the game well and they deserved the victory. We gave up 30 points off of turnovers and we did not rebound the ball well at all. Those were easily the

Owen Martel

key factors in our loss. Hoping to cut our turnovers down this week and expect to be doing a lot more substituting if we don't!

There is not much to report on with regards to fine individual performances. Dave was solid with 12 points and 8 rebounds. Freshman guard Alex Boisse is continually improving and sophomore forwards Owen Martel & Yassin Naji are coming along nicely.

This Saturday we host McGill to close out the 1st Semester. McGill is ranked #8 in the country and is the team to beat in our league as the defending champs.

The games on Saturday will be played at 2 & 4. It is a special day at BU as former BU star basketball players Cynthia Johnston & Trevor Bennett along with legendary BU Athletic Therapist Steve King all get inducted into the BU Royal Bank Wall of Distinction. There will be a reception following the game in the Sports Centre. There are still a few places left for friends/alumni of BU basketball who are interested in attending. Please contact me if would like to reserve a spot.

I will keep you posted,
Rod

Week #1 RSEQ

Thursday @ Concordia

BU        13      23      22       9   -   67
CU        15      17      25      13  -   70

After the first week of RSEQ play there have been 4 games played and those games have been decided by a total of 9 points. Suffice to say, our league is very tight and every  game is going to be a dogfight.

This game was no different. We did go up by about as much as 9 in the 2nd quarter, but ended up leading by 4 at the half. In the first half we did a good job of not fouling (much easier to do in our league...'they let you play' as they say in the RSEQ) and taking care of the ball.

In the 2nd half we had way too many unforced turnovers. Sometimes your own offense can be your defense's worst enemy and that proved true for us. We defended well enough to keep Concordia in the 50's, but gave up points off turnovers. Despite that, the game was close throughout and we missed two 3 point attempts in the last 20 seconds to tie the game.

Nick played with great energy scoring 16, grabbing 9 rebounds to go along with 4 steals. Abdul had 15 & 8 in a solid return. Jona had 13 points and 3 assists after battling the flu in the days leading up to the game.


Saturday vs. UQAM

BU           16      18      18      20   -   72
UQAM    25      21      14      16   -   76

Defensively we struggled in the first half giving up hoops to the 2 guys we knew who could beat us. That combined with missing some great looks inside put us in a hole. We just did not come to compete in the first half like we had on Thursday night. To our guys credit that changed in the 2nd half and not playing our best basketball we cut UQAM's lead to a more manageable 8 points. By the 5 minute mark of the 4th we were up a point and things were tight from that point on.

With the score tied and about 22 seconds left we missed a wide open corner 3. UQAM rebounded the ball and attacked. We defended the initial shot well, but they picked up a long rebound & scored the putback to go up 2. They defended our next possession and we had to foul which made it a 4 point loss.

Jona led us with 14 points and 7 assists. Nick & Joany had 13 & 12 points respectively.

All in all, disappointing to start league play with 2 losses. On the bright side, we are still missing key players in our line-up and not playing near our potential yet. There is progress in some areas.

This Friday we travel to Laval in our lone game of the week. They have a very talented and athletic team that is capable of beating almost any team in the CIS on a given night. We will have our hands full, but if we come ready to play it should be a very competitive game.

Rod

Jack Donahue Tourney Results

Jack Donahue Tournament @ U of Ottawa

Friday @ Ottawa

BU        10       8      23      15    -    56

UO        27      14    24      24    -    89

This was a tough one from the start. We lost Abdul for the weekend a couple of minutes into the game with a sprained ankle. That did not help, but it was not going to make a difference in this game.   Ottawa is an experienced and well coached team that played well all weekend. We did a poor job of defending dribble penetration which gave a very good shooting team way too many open looks from the 3 point line. That is something we are working to get better at.

Freshman Guard - Joany Thadal Castor

Not a lot of positives in this game to report on. Freshman Joany Thadal Castor led us with 11 points and he played very well all weekend. Joany would be referred to as a ‘3 and D’ kind of player...(I will give you the credit on that one Bones!!)  A good 3 point shooter who is also a defensive specialist. He did a nice job on both of those aspects of the game this weekend. Jona added 10 points as our only other double digit scorer.

Saturday vs. Waterloo - Overtime

BU          26      15      24      14      13   -   92

UW         10      25      23      21      17   -   96

After getting kicked the night before our guys came out very focused and did a great job of following the game plan in the first quarter and early in the 2^nd quarter. We played well enough to build a 20 point lead before we stopped doing the things that got us the lead. Waterloo to their credit hung tough and did a good job of being opportunistic throughout the game.

The story of the game was at the foul line where Waterloo shot 43 free throws to our 24. I may not have agreed with some of the officiating, but we were simply undisciplined with some of our fouls and did not adjust to how the game was being officiated. If we had looked after that we don’t go to overtime and we do not lose this game.

Freshman Point Guard - Alex Boisse

Late in regulation Waterloo took a 1 point lead with 3.6 seconds to go. Out of the timeout our guys executed well and found Jona who drew a 2 shot foul with 1.5 seconds left to go. So, Jona was heading to the line with a chance to win the game and there is no one I would rather have at the line other than him. Unfortunately, he missed the first, but made the 2^nd to send it to overtime.

In the later part of the game we lost Joany & Nick as they both fouled out. Without them we just did not have enough to hold off Waterloo in overtime as we suffered another close loss. Dave & Jona had 24 & 23 points respectively while Joany added another 14. Owen had 10 points & 6 rebounds in the losing cause.

Sunday vs. Toronto

BU               14      23      22      19   -   78

UofT            15      15      33      13   -   76

I thought we expended a lot of energy in the overtime game the day before and a couple of the guys playing were a little more nicked up. A Noon time start made it a short turnaround between games and with a thin line-up my main concern was to get out of the weekend with no more injuries as league play is fast approaching.

To our guy’s credit, they did not enter the game with any excuses in hand. After a slow start offensively we started to find our flow and built a 7 point half time lead. The 3^rd quarter was a combination of us turning the ball over and Toronto making some adjustments at half time that helped them put 33 points up in just 10 minutes.

2nd Year Forward - Nick Harvey

Throughout the 4^th quarter it was close, but they had built up a 5 point lead with about a minute to go. Freshman point guard Alex Boisse, who was a spark in the 2^nd half,  found his fellow Freshman Joany in the corner for his 5^th 3 point hoop of the game to cut the lead to 2. We managed to hold defensively and got the ball back with 24 seconds left. We did get a decent look initially to tie, but missed. Fortunately Nick grabbed his 18^th rebound of the game and kicked out the offensive rebound to Jona who knocked down the winning shot with 8 seconds to go. Great to get the win, but very happy to see Jona cash in on an opportunity to redeem himself in a late game situation after missing a chance to ice the game the day before. Toronto had one last shot and Nick rebounded the miss to finish the game with his 19^th rebound.

Dave led us in scoring with 20 points while grabbing 8 rebounds. Jona had 18 points and 5 assists. Nick added 17 points and an impressive 19 rebounds. When he is locked in he is very difficult to contain on the glass. He has a great combination of speed, quickness & strength for a kid who is 6’6 and 230 pounds! Joany completed his best weekend as a Gaiter with 15 points and some excellent defense.

Thanks to the BU alumni who came out to support us. It was nice to see Tommy Van Alstine, Grafton Timothy, Jeremy Leonard-Smith, Tim Hunter and Blair Shier out at the games. A special thank you again to Blair who provided the pics in this post along with more that will follow throughout the year. Blair finds the time each year to get to one of pre-season tournaments where he treats our guys to a meal and takes literally hundreds of game action shots of our team. So very much appreciated! Especially since we are not often in BC where he resides. 

That completes our CIS non-conference/exhibition play for the year. We finish that portion with a record of 3-5 vs. CIS opponents. Easily a couple of bounces and calls away from being 5-3 or better, but we are not the only team who could be saying that!

This week we head to the US to face a perennial championship level NCAA D2 team in Southern New Hampshire U at 6 pm on Friday. On the way back home through Vermont on Saturday we catch Lyndon State at 4 pm. SNHU should be on par with the likes of Ottawa and we will definitely have our hands full. I do not know too much about Lyndon, but both games will help us prepare for RSEQ play which opens the following week.

I will keep you posted,

Rod

Gaiters Tour of Alberta

Thursday vs. Mount Royal U

BU          18    23    30    18     -     89

MRU      12    17    19     21     -    69

As I watched our guys warm-up in pre-game I lamented the fact that I had tried to make this trip more budget friendly by traveling on the same day we played. We had a direct flight and we are used to traveling on days we play.  I figured we would be fine. However, I was seeing a sluggish team that did not have the usual hop in their step.

My worries were quelled fairly quickly. We competed from the start, but were a bit sloppy defensively. We did clean things up and dominated the glass. We have not received stats yet, but I would guess we had to be +10 in the rebounding department for the game. 

We pushed the lead up to about 30 points with around 4 minutes left in the game, but gave some of that back to finish the game with a 20 point win. I would estimate that we had at least 4 guys in double figures with Jona, Nick, Abdul & Dave leading the way. Freshmen point guard Alex Boisse was very good in this game as well and may have reached double digits.

Friday @ Lethbridge - Game 1

BU          20     9     18    22   -   69

UL          15    20    21    15   -   71

Lethbridge is a notoriously difficult place to win and we did experience this first hand!  After a good first 8 minutes or so we got into a bit of a funk which lasted through the 2^nd quarter. We struggled with some foul trouble and did not do a great job adjusting to how the game was being officiated. It was much less physical than what we are used to in our league. Frustrating at the time, but it allowed for teachable moments.

Despite not playing our best basketball we managed to hang  around and stay within striking distance. That would not have happened last year, but this team is light years ahead of where were last year at this time. Same guys…but, as the they say, the best thing about Freshmen is they turn into Sophomores! 

Lethbridge opened up an 11 point lead in the 3^rd quarter and led by as much as 7 with about 3 or 4 minutes to go. We managed to put together a bunch of good possessions on both sides of the ball in the final minutes and tied the game up at 69 with under a minute  to go on a 3 by 2^nd year wing Owen Martel. We got a defensive stop the next possession and followed that with an offensive possession where we had a decent look that did not hit it’s mark. That left Lethbridge with the last possession with 16 seconds to go. Our guys defended flawlessly, but unfortunately for us the Basketball Gods were shining on Lethbridge as they hit a tough contested off balance shot from the top of the key as the buzzer sounded! I am not sure we deserved to win this game as we did struggle through a long stretch in the middle. Regardless, I was pleased with the poise we played with down the stretch.

If Dave Belanger has not been our best player this year, he certainly has been our most consistent. Dave spearheaded our 2^nd half comeback and anchored our defense grabbing 14 rebounds while scoring a hard earned 18 points in the paint. He did hurt his knee late in the game and was not able to play Saturday and is doubtful for next week at Ottawa U. Owen and Abdul added 12 & 11 respectively while Jona had 9 points & 7 assists.

Saturday @ Lethbridge - Game 2

BU          17     25     12     17   -   71

UL           6      18     27     26   -   77

The loss from the night before did not sit well with our guys and they showed up focused on both ends of the court in the first half. We communicated very well on defense and everybody did their jobs. Offensively we moved the ball and  we had some great looks. We were up 18 at the break despite shooting the ball poorly. Had we knocked down some shots I feel we would have put the game out of reach by half time.

However, we did not make those shots and the game is 40 minutes long! Lethbridge came out aggressively in the 2^nd half and quickly narrowed the gap  cutting the lead to 3 at the end of the 3^rd quarter. We managed to hang tough in the 4^th and pushed our lead back up to 11 with just under 5 minutes  to go before the wheels just fell off. We stopped talking defensively, missed assignments in transition and could not score at the other end. That is where we really missed not having Dave or Big Jonah in the line-up. Having a big you can go to for a paint score is not only a luxury, but a necessity when you are playing on tired legs. 

We simply ran out of gas in the 2^nd half of this game. Our greatest asset is our depth and we just did not have that due to injuries. Regardless, it was great experience to face the adversity of a short bench, travel and playing on the road in a gym where it is tough to get a win. It does not take the sting out of losing, but I feel pretty confident that this group will be a tough out as the season progresses.

Jona led us with 18 points despite struggling from the 3 point line. Abdul had a quiet 12 points while Owen continues his positive ascent scoring 10. Nick & Duncan Lambert eached grabbed 9 rebounds.

Special thanks to Lethbridge’s native son, Dave Wells, or Wellsie as he is affectionately known nation wide in the basketball community for taking the time to show me around Lethbridge Saturday afternoon.

Next up for us is the U of Ottawa – Jack Donahue Tournament which starts Friday. We open up against the host Gee Gees Friday night at 8 pm. It is our first meeting since facing them in that heartbreaking overtime loss at the CIS Final 8 two years ago. We are both very different teams now and this will be a very tough game for us. Aside from Carleton, Ottawa has been the top program in the CIS over the past 5 years. Saturday @ 6pm we face and young, but talented Waterloo team and finish Sunday @ Noon vs. a very good U of Toronto team that already has some quality wins including a marquee win vs. UNLV in the Bahamas in August.

For our BU Alumni and Friends of Gaiter Basketball, there will be reception at the Royal Oak Pub next to the U of Ottawa on Friday evening before our 8 pm game. Hopefully a few of you can make it out! 

I will keep you posted,

Rod

Results from UNB's Eric Garland Tourney

Friday vs. UMaine-Fort Kent

BU          19       8      13      27   -   67
UMFK    16      16     24      18   -   74


After a good 1st quarter where we executed on both ends of the floor we struggled through much of the rest of the game. We did not capitalize on our opportunities and could not make open jump shots or layups while UMFK showed the ability to make some tough shots. They had a mature and talented core who was very opportunistic. They deserved the win and despite not playing our best we did learn a lot from it.

We managed to play 11 guys almost 10 minutes each. We have some depth and are trying to figure out what line-ups work best at this point in the season. We did have 4 guys score in double figures with Dave Belanger leading with 15 points. He also added 7 rebounds. Dave was our best player this weekend and was selected to the tournament allstar team. Abdul Kamane, freshman Joany Thadal Castor and Jona Bermillo scored 13,12 & 11 respectively.


Saturday vs. UNB

BU        14      26      14      15   -   69
UNB     14      14      21      11   -   60

Playing the host on their Homecoming weekend is always a fun challenge. There was a pretty decent crowd and UNB is very athletic. We were much improved over the day before and our guys played very hard on the defensive end. It felt good to see the guys bounce back with a better effort even if we were still unsure of ourselves.

We managed to build a 13 point lead in the 3rd quarter before UNB came back to tie the game at 54-54 with about 6 minutes to go in the game. From there our guys were solid at both ends of the court as we finished the game on a 13-2 run to get the victory.

We did a good job getting to the foul line as we shot 38 free throws...22 by Abdul who converted on 16 of those. We still did not shoot the ball well from the field, but defended, rebounded and converted enough free throws to get the win. Abdul ended up with 22 points and 9 rebounds. Yassin Naji had a nice game off the bench with some excellent defense to go along with 14 points and 7 rebounds. Dave was solid again with 10 points and 7 rebounds.


Sunday vs. Saint Mary's

BU      12      16      18      20   -   66
SMU   28      13      28      13   -   82

Saint Mary's was not going to be beat this weekend. They did not struggle too much vs. any of the other 3 teams. They are one of the better teams in the CIS in my estimation. We are just not ready to beat a team like that right now, but could definitely give them a game later in the year. They came out focused and competed harder than us right from the start. They set the tone early and before we were ready to play we were down 16. We had some good moments after that, but never threatened them.

Dave and Nick Harvey were are only double digit scorers. Big Jonah Fogg started to come on this weekend. Played well against UNB and was better vs. SMU scoring 8 points. Jona Bermillo led us in assists with 9 vs. SMU.

All in all we got a lot out of the tournament. We would have liked another win or 2. However, we are still young enough that we are lacking in some key areas. Those areas can be addressed in the coming weeks and we expect to be more than competitive. Our lack of experience won't be an excuse moving forward.

Next up, we play NCAA D3 Maine Maritime Academy at La Ruche Secondary School in Magog on Thanksgiving Monday at 4 pm. 

Have a great week and nice Thanksgiving holiday!
Rod

Gaiter Year End Awards

This past Monday was our yearly BU Athletic Awards Night. Below is a summary of the 4 award winners from our team.

Men’s Basketball Team Awards 2015-16

Bradley Jones  Rookie of the Year Award– Abdul Kamane

This freshman was a model of consisitency as he scored in double figures 15 of 16 RSEQ games. He finished 6th in the RSEQ in scoring with 13.3 ppg and 3rd in rebounding with 7.3 ppg. This made him an unanimous choice for the RSEQ Rookie of the Year and secured him a spot on the CIS All Rookie team where he finished 3rd in the voting for Rookie of the Year in the CIS.  Abdul is the first Gaiter to be named RSEQ Rookie of the Year since Ricardo Telamon received the reward in 2002-03. 

Abdul was also named the BU FRESHMAN ATHLETE OF THE YEAR! 

Michel Fontaine Memorial Award - Most Improved Player – Jonah Fogg

Jonah made tremendous improvements in many areas in his freshman season. His commitment to training & nutrition was obvious to all and this was a major part of his improvement. (This picture does not do him justice as he has radically changed his physique over the course of the season.) He also put extra time into his game, improving skills and gaining a better understanding of the CIS game which allowed him to make significant on-court contributions to the team in February.  At 7'0 tall with a good feel for the game, Jonah could be a significant contributor for years to come. 

Garth Smith Team Award – Mathew Van Doorn

A 2nd year guard, White Chocolate aka 'Choco' as he is affectionately referred to, worked hard every day in practice and was ready & willing to contribute in any way the team needed either in practices or games.  He showed an ability to provide a spark off  the bench in any game as he is definitely a player who is capable of making something happen on the floor. Very well liked, he was always there to cheer on his teammates.   

Most Valuable Player – Jona Bermillo

Jona, a 4^th year captain had the challenge of carrying the youngest team in the CIS game in & game out and was consistently the focus of the opposition's defensive game plan. He played his best in the 4th quarters and at times kept the team in  games single handedly. He was rewarded by being recognized as a RSEQ 2nd Team Allstar for the 2nd time in his career. He led the team in minutes played,  assists, steals and 3 point shooting. Jona will graduate with a degree in Economics this spring, but is considering returning to BU to play his 5th & final year of CIS eligibility. 

No Further This March

Thursday @ Laval

BU          18      9     21     19   -   67
UL          16     26    21     19   -   82


The second quarter was our undoing. It has kind of been a theme the last couple of games after solid first quarters. After executing well in the first, we got a little sloppy with our passing & shot selection in the 2nd quarter. Laval capitalized and put us into a bit of a hole.

The beginning of the 3rd quarter was a continuation of the 2nd as we struggled defensively and Laval went on a 3 point shooting barrage. They pushed their lead up to 23 points with about 2 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. Much like the last time we played there we went on a run to close the lead to 9 in a 6 minute span before missing an open lay-up that would have cut the lead to 7 and may have changed the course of the game. On the ensuing possession Laval came down and knocked in a 3 point shot which effectively ended our run. We never challenged the lead again, but our guys continued to play hard.

All in all, the effort was good, but we did not have much left in the tank. Can you call not making the playoffs a successful season? Maybe...this group was very young, got better with each passing week and showed flashes of brilliance at times. If we don't stand pat and come back a much better team next season then I think we can say this past season was definitely a success!

Abdul...17 pts, 6 rebounds, 4 assists

Freshman sensation Abdul Kamane led us with 17 points, 6 rebounds, a season high 4 assists (could have been more if we made a few more shots!) and zero turnovers. Abdul is starting to figure some things out and should be a dominant player for seasons to come. Pete & Jona added 14 & 11 respectively. Nick had 10 points and 12 rebounds to end his freshman season with a double-double. By the way, Nick finished 2nd in the league in rebounding at 7.6 per game while Abdul was 3rd with 7.3 per game.

This completes our season...4-12 in league play + 3 other CIS wins that all came against teams that made the playoffs in other conferences along with 2 wins over NCAA D3 schools. A 9 win season was not what we were looking for, but it could have been worse! It is actually much better than the first season for the core of last year's championship team. Regardless, it was a fun group to coach and our best days should be ahead of us.

I will keep you updated on post season awards & recruiting updates etc...
Rod

Playoffs Out of Reach for 15-16

Saturday @ McGill

BU          17      5     15     9    -   46
MU         15     20    22    19   -   76

This loss eliminated us from the playoff race. You are definitely playing with fire when you are depending on beating the best team in your conference in their gym to keep your playoff hopes alive.

In the first quarter, we played pretty well and played the way we wanted to play. Unfortunately, that changed in the 2nd quarter as we allowed McGill to force us to play the way they wanted us to play. They took us out of our rhythm offensively and we ended up either turning over the ball on forced plays or taking contested shots. Lots to learn from a game like this!

The game was decided in the 2nd quarter and the first 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter. We never could bounce back in that time and could not find an answer for McGill. A quick timeout in the 3rd quarter did not help and we found ourselves in a situation trying to shake things up with different line-ups. We ended subbing 5 guys at a time to essentially run time-outs on the bench as the game was being played before subbing the same 5 guys back into the game in the hopes that we could stay close enough to make a run at them in the 4th. We did get a 25 point deficit back to 15 at one point, but the success was brief. Bottom line is we lost to a better team. It is a process and not always an easy one.

Abdul & Duncan led us in scoring with 11 points apiece. Abdul had 7 rebounds while Big Jonah added 6. Not much else to speak of statistically as the score would suggest. We shot 20% for the game and McGill had a lot to do with that.

Thursday we finish our season at Laval. The game means nothing to either team with regards to playoff match-ups. Laval finishes 4th and we finish 5th. Laval will face McGill in the opening round of the playoff and might be McGill's toughest match up based on how their games have gone this season. Regardless, we will be playing for pride on Thursday!

I will keep you posted!
Rod

Still Hanging In!

Saturday vs. Concordia

BU          18    19    19    18   -   74
CU          33    11     8     14   -   66

Sr Captain - Jona Bermillo

Saturday was Senior Night with Jona Bermillo being the only graduating potential non-returner on our team. Jona has had a very successful 4 years here...played in 3 league finals, won the league title last year, has been a league allstar once already and will be again this year. Great person and key player on our team...really hoping he comes back for his 5th year even though he will be graduating in the Spring with a degree in Economics. I think there is a decent chance he will return...fingers are crossed!

With Saturday being our last home game, I wanted to thank our fans as they have supported this young squad through more losses than wins this year. The best has yet to come for this group and that is pretty evident to anyone who has seen us play. The atmosphere was fantastic Saturday, there was the usual & appreciated community support along with the students being very loud!

On to the game, we did not have the start we had planned! We felt if we were ready to defend we could hold ConU to a relatively low number offensively...33 in the 1st quarter was not the number we were looking for! We did not panic, cleaned some things up and held them to 33 for the next 3 quarters. Offensively we were pretty consistent as the line score would attest to.

Down 7 at the half, we came out strong in the 3rd quarter. We moved the ball and were sound defensively leading to 15 ConU 2nd half turnovers. We continued to play pretty well in the 4th quarter and took the lead for good with about 4 minutes to go.

Freshmen Forward, Duncan Lambert

We had 5 guys score in double figures which was a first for us this season. Jona had 14 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists & 3 steals with 1 turnover in a very senior like outing. Freshman Duncan Lambert was a spark off the bench with 13 points and some excellent defense. Pete & Abdul chipped in 12 a piece while Nick added 10 points & 8 rebounds. Big Jonah Fogg started in the place of injured captain Dave Belanger. Jonah had 8 points & 5 rebounds. He really has come along in the 2nd semester. Gaiter great, Rob Burns, has been putting some extra time in the gym with Jonah and it is certainly showing. Thanks Rob!

So, the win keeps us alive in the playoff race! Any BU loss or Laval win ends our playoff chances...that's been the case for 2 weeks now. McGill did us a huge favour by winning at Laval by 1 on Friday night. Laval was actually up 23 points with 3:30 to go in the 3rd quarter in that game! As I watched, I was sure our doom was imminent. However, I barely had time to go through the 7 stages of grieving before McGill went on a 19-2 run to make it a game again and go on to win!

Saturday we play at McGill at 4PM...Laval is at UQAM Saturday. We need to win and hope Laval loses to set up decisive final league game at Laval the following week. Still a very precarious situation, but much more viable than it was 2 weeks ago. We are hoping to get a little support on Saturday at McGill from our friends and alumni in Montreal as we play in this do or die game vs. the top team in our league!

I will keep you posted,
Rod