RSEQ Week #8

Friday vs. #5 McGill 

BU     20    26    22    18   -   86
MU    20    20    19    22   -   81

McGill is easily the team to beat in our conference. Aside from Carleton, they as good or better than any team we have played this year...and we have played 4 of the top 6 teams in the country so far. So, getting a win on Friday was not necessarily expected, but playing well was. We have had not had a bad practice since we returned after Christmas and I feel we have been making very good progress each week since then despite having at least 1 key player missing from our rotation every game.

Yassin Naji...game clinching 3 pt shot

In this game we led for at least 39 minutes. McGill led by 1 point twice for 1 possession each time I believe. We played with energy and poise most of the time, but we really competed on the glass. We did out rebound McGill 53-30 and held them to 41% shooting from the floor...although they did miss some open looks from the 3 point line at times. We led by as many as 11 at points in the game and if not for 25 turnovers we would have probably been able to put the game away earlier on this night. McGill's full court pressure is very good, but we did not turn the ball over there. Just some mistakes that were careless at times.  We have improved defensively, but still putting some things together offensively and figuring out how to play more efficiently together on that end.

McGill took 1 of their brief 1 point leads halfway through the 4th Q, but we responded on the next possession and held the lead for the remainder of the game. Our guys played poised and played well down the stretch.

Abdul had an excellent all around game with 24 points, 12 rebounds & 5 assists.  Joany was solid at both ends of the floor with 16 points & 5 rebounds. Nervens chipped in 12 points and 6 assists. Yassin had a big 3 point shot to seal the game in the last 2 minutes as part of his 11 points. Dave struggled to score, but had 12 rebounds & 6 assists. Big Jonah added 9 points off the bench. In the last 3 games Jonah is 10-11 from the floor including a 3 point shot in this game.


Saturday @ #5 McGill

BU     16    18    15     8   -   57
MU    27    23    32    26  -   108

This was just one of those games. A combination of McGill doing what they do well, being very motivated and us just not having it. We were physically a bit beat up going into Friday (we had 8 guys at practice Monday to Wednesday last week) and were in worse shape Saturday.  We knew what was coming, but we just had no juice.

We hung around a bit early, but McGill was tough and we just were not doing things to help our own cause. About 3 minutes into the 2nd half when Dave went down with an ankle injury we were pretty much into practice mode. Forget the score, spread out the minutes and see what we can learn the rest of the game. We did not head into the game with this mindset, but that is the way it played out.

Abdul had 17 points to lead us in scoring. Freshman Jordan Thornhill had a career high 11 and freshman PG Nervens had 10 rebounds.

This is our bye week and it could not come at a better time. We have some minor aches & pains we have to take care along with a couple of other injuries. With any luck we will have the core of our playing rotation available a week from Thursday at UQAM.

I will keep you posted.
Rod

RSEQ Week #7

Thursday at Concordia

BU          14    34    15    22   -   85
CU          23    21    22    24   -   90

After a slow start we had a very strong 2nd quarter and led by 4 heading into half time. We missed some good opportunities to start the 3rd and Concordia took a small lead.

Joany - 20 points in Game 1

Things took a bizarre  turn midway through the 3rd when freshman guard DJ Ngom received an unwarranted flagrant elbow to the face. The call was made, but DJ popped up off the floor and had an understandably very angry look on his face. He was restrained by a teammate before he could say a word, gesture or make a push towards his assailant. Regardless, he was assessed a technical foul. On the ensuing play Dave Belanger received a technical foul for flopping(referee's point of emphasis this year!)...the reality was he tripped over someone's foot while back pedalling in a defensive recovery. A minute or 2 later DJ was called for an 'unsportsmanlike hard foul' while contesting a lay-up and was ejected as that counted as a 2nd technical. It was a marginal call at best, but possibly understandable from the referee's perspective. When the smoke cleared we had lost DJ and he was suspended for Saturday's game because he received '2 technical fouls'. It was a moot point though,  the elbow to the face gave DJ a mild concussion and he would not have been cleared to play on Saturday anyhow. I certainly have a biased perspective, but as they say...'the video don't lie!' Maybe the most perplexing few minutes I have seen in a game in a long time.

To our guys credit they continued to compete. Concordia did manage to go up by as many as 9 in the 4th, but the spread was for the most part between 3-5 points. Our guys played hard, executed at both ends of the floor and were even or better in almost every statistical category except for the one that counted...the score!

Joany had 20 points to lead us in scoring. Freshman PG, Nervens Demosthene had 19 points & 10 rebounds...he gets better each game & is just an elite athlete. Tom Allen was around the gym last week and in his gravelly voice said, 'your lucky Breck is not coaching football here anymore or he'd have that kid playing defensive back as soon as you turned your head!'...more entertaining if you can replicate Tom's voice in your head!  Abdul had a solid all around game with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Dave chipped in 12 points and 6 rebounds.


Saturday vs. Concordia

BU          19    23    13    19   -   74
CU          23    19    16    21   -   79

As the line score would indicate the game was close throughout with the exception of the first few minutes where we had another sluggish start. Kevin Davis came off the bench to spark us in the 1st quarter with couple of steals on great defensive rotations. From that point forward neither team lead by more than 5 points the rest of the game.

Big Jonah - 10 points

Fast forward to the 4th quarter, we went up by 5, Concordia went up by 5, the score was tied 7 times and then Concordia had 1 point lead in the final minute before we missed a wide open, balanced, in rhythm 3 point shot that would have put us up 2 with about 20 seconds to go. Concordia rebounded and fouled. They managed to make 2 free throws, we called time out and scored a quick 2 point basket and fouled again. Concordia made 2 more free throws to go up 3 and we mishandled a pass with 2 seconds to go before 1 last desperate foul. Game over.

Abdul led us in scoring with 20 points, but he was not as efficient as usual. Nervens had 19 points, 7 rebounds & 3 steals. Big Jonah who has been getting better each week had a career high 10 points. The skilled 7 footer is regularly contributing off the bench and that bodes well for next season when we lose Dave. Dave had 8 points & 13 rebounds (*leads RSEQ in rebounding)

The 2 losses definitely hurt. However, we are playing much better and seeing progress each week. We still control our own destiny from a playoff perspective. Our guys continue to work hard each day in practice and the new guys are slowly getting up to speed. February will be a big month for us. Not to look past McGill who we play this week, but those games won't likely impact our playoff scenario. McGill is in a class by themselves presently in our league. They will finish first in league play and the rest of the teams will have to hope that in a 'do or die' 1 game playoff format they falter...any team can have a bad shooting night!

Friday we host McGill and Saturday we are at McGill.

Game time at McGill is 6:00pm. 

RSEQ Week #6

Thursday @ UQAM

BU             26    18    18    23   -   85
UQAM      22    22    19    25   -   88

Defensively this may have been the worst we have been all season. Despite that we had leads as large at 8 points in the 3rd quarter, but could not put UQAM away. We are definitely a work in progress as far as being able to manage a lead and put enough distance between ourselves & our opponents to seal a victory. A big part of that is belief & confidence that you only get by having success in those situations.

With UQAM clinging to a 1 point lead we had 2 opportunities to go ahead on attacks to the basket in the last 30 seconds. Unfortunately we missed both attempts. The game was sealed with about 7 seconds to go on a very questionable call as we made a play for the ball while fouling, but got called for a flagrant foul that gave UQAM 2 shots and the ball back. It was hard to complain about the referees though as we did shoot 37 free throws compared to UQAM's 12.

Abdul...25-28 from foul line in 2 games! 

A disappointing loss, but not fatal with regards to the playoff race. Abdul led all scorers with 31 points. Yassin had 15 points playing a very good offensive game. Dave Belanger muscled his way to 13 points & 7 rebounds. Our best player for a good part of the game was Kevin Davis. In 17 minutes he had 10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals & a couple of assists. He played well at both ends of the floor, but unfortunately tweaked his hamstring and had to sit the our game on Sunday.


Sunday vs. UQAM

BU             27    18    18    21   -   84
UQAM      18    17    24    18   -   77

Season high 24 points for Dave Belanger

This game was supposed to be played Saturday night, but it was postponed due to weather.  That gave us another practice to clean up some things defensively. Our defensive transition  was poor Thursday and we did not guard the ball well at all. That was much better in this game. Right now we are making some mistakes that we might normally make in September or October, but when you have 4 new guys in your line up that will happen.

After giving up 11 points in the first 2 minutes we tightened up defensively and rebounded the ball well. We again had opportunities to really extend leads, but could not put UQAM away as early as we would have liked. UQAM did take a brief 1 point lead early in the 4th quarter, but our guys played with poise and sealed the victory in the final few minutes.

Dave was outstanding scoring 24 points & grabbing 12 rebounds. Abdul continued his fine play with 20 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Yassin played his best overall game as a Gaiter scoring 13 points, grabbing 4 rebounds & blocking 3 shots. Recently added freshman guard DJ Ngom was a spark off the bench with 5 points, 5 rebounds and a couple of assists. He is just a guy who brings a lot of positive intangibles and fits what we need.

That leaves us in 4th place 1 game ahead of UQAM for the final playoff spot. This Thursday we head to Concordia to play the 3rd place Stingers. Game time is 8 pm. Hope to see you there.
Rod