RSEQ Week #8

Friday at Laval

BU          26    18    15    14   -   73

UL           10    19    18    24   -   71

Not exactly breaking news, but our guys can confirm that winning close games is much better than losing close games! We won two games this week by getting some bounces and making shots at key times that did not go down in a bunch of our losses in the last few weeks.

Jordan Thornhill  20 points, 9 rebounds Friday 

On Friday we got off to a poor start getting down 7 pts to start the game. We finished the 1^st Q on a 26-3 run. We maintained control of the game for the 2^nd Q and most of the 3^rd Q before just going cold offensively. We were getting great shots, but could not knock down open 3’s and layups at the rim. Laval chipped away at our lead and took the lead with 4:00 minutes to go. They maintained a small lead until Kevin Davis knocked down a 3 pt shot with 1:20 to go to put us up by 2. Laval tied it at 71 shortly after, but Kevin found Jordan Thornhill for a lay-up with 12 seconds to go to take the lead. Our D held and we snuck away with the much needed road win that kept us in the playoff hunt.

 2^nd year forward Jordan Thornhill had a career best game with 20 points & 9 rebounds. Jordan missed the last 3 games with a concussion and we certainly noticed his absence. This weekend was the first time in 3 years that we have played with our complete playing rotation intact. Injuries have not been kind to us. Kevin Davis hit some big shots scoring 14 points. Joany Castor Thadal had a nice all around game with 8 points, 7 rebounds & 4 assists off the bench.

Saturday vs. Laval

    

BU          14    22    27    12   -   75

UL           24    14    19    16   -   73

After a sluggish 1^st quarter we found some rhythm offensively and put together an excellent 2^nd and 3^rd Quarter. The 4^th was a bit of a challenge to say the least. We only had 11 turnovers for the game, but again we just could not make shots for a long stretch in the 4^th Q. After scoring on our 1^st possession of the 4^th we only scored 4 points in the next 9 minutes. We defended well, but had a bit of a crisis of confidence when shooting the ball.

After a couple of controversial situations we found ourselves down 4 with 30 seconds to go and with

5th year Captain Kevin Davis

the ball. Out of our time out Nervens Demosthene found Joany for a 3 on the backside of the floor which he knocked down with a hand in his face to cut the lead to 1.  Normally an excellent shooter, he struggled this weekend shooting the ball. However, he made the shot that kept our season alive! He also lost a tooth in the 1st half after getting an elbow in the mouth. Happy to see him make that shot for so many reasons! With 15 seconds to go our guys managed to create a turnover off of Laval’s sideline out of bounds play to get possession of the ball back. We had 1 more time out left and we were able to get the ball to Kevin Davis who scored a lay-up with 11 seconds on the clock while getting fouled. The hoop put us up 1 and the free throw made it a 2 point lead. Laval missed a tough shot coming down the floor that we rebounded to save the victory.  

Kevin had 24 points and 6 steals in his 2^nd to last game in Mitchell Gymnasium. The 5^th year captain really stepped up this weekend. Abdul Kamane had 11 points and 6 rebounds. Not the usual high scoring weekend from Abdul, but he played well defensively scored timely hoops. 4^th year forward Andrew Howarth was solid with 9 pts and great team defense. 2^nd year guard Nervens Demosthene did not have a huge scoring weekend, but he had 14 assists in 2 games with only 1 turnover. We like that ratio!

We have 2 games left, Concordia at home Saturday where we will honour graduating seniors Kevin Davis, Andrew Howarth, Abdul Kamane & Duncan Lambert. Our last game is the following Saturday at UQAM. All we know now is that Concordia has 1^st place locked up, McGill controls their own destiny with regards to 2^nd place, but UQAM can catch them. 3^rd & 4^th place are up in the air with ourselves, Laval & UQAM fighting for 2 of  the remaining spots. Anything can happen and all we can worry about at this point is figuring out how to beat ConU on Saturday.

In other positive news for our program, Kyle Desmarais, former Gaiter and co-captain of the 2015 RSEQ Championship team has joined our coaching staff. Kyle will be our recruiting co-ordintor for Quebec & Eastern Ontario as well as doing some advanced scouting. More to follow on this when the article comes out on gaiters.ca. Excited have Kyle back with the Gaiters!