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.