Comeback Caps Weekend

Friday vs. Laval

BU        19   21   16   12   -   68
UL        14   22   16   23   -   75


Much like our last game a couple of weeks ago vs. UQAM we played very well for a little more than 3 quarters, but could not sustain it. With a minute to go in the 3rd quarter we led by 9 and had extended our half time lead. Laval cut that lead to 4 quickly before the end of the quarter, but we still felt good heading into the final frame.

We had a 1 point lead with about 6:30 to go, but that changed abruptly as Laval went on a 8-0 run in the next 90 seconds. We got it back to a 5 point spread, but we could not get it any closer. A lot of positives for us in the game, but they did not translate to a win.

Dave Belanger - 42 pts & 16 rebound this weekend.

Dave Belanger returned from a dislocated finger to score 24 points on 9-9 fgs & 6-6 free throws. He also had 10 rebounds. He had a great week of practice and we missed his leadership while he was out.  Abdul continues to impress and he contributed 13 points and 8 rebounds. Jona had 13 points & 5 assists to round our double figures scorers. Nick Harvey added 8 points and 7 rebounds. Pete Weston is still out with a foot injury. Hoping to have him back sooner than later as we are definitely missing him.



Saturday @ Laval

BU         9   19   24   25   -   77
UL       16   24   17   16   -   73

We have had pretty good success in Laval's new gym over the last 3 years or so, but this is a much younger team and playing on back to back days makes that even more challenging. Regardless, our guys really showed they were not ready to rely on any excuses for a poor performance and managed to fight back for a much needed win.

We had a very good first 5 minutes, but Laval bounced back and pretty much dominated us for the next 20 minutes. To our guys credit they did not succumb to the opportunities to pack it in. With a little over 4:00 to go in the 3rd quarter we were down 55-37. At that point we went with a small 3 guard line-up which included 2nd year Mat Van Doorn and freshmen Luay Abow & Austin Macklem. They helped turn the tide and got us back to a manageable 5 point deficit. Freshmen Owen Martel returned to the lineup and was also instrumental knocking down a 3 point shot and getting a nice dunk in transition. Owen has been out since the end of November with a shoulder injury. He was on the verge of coming into his own before the injury. He is an 18 year kid who is almost 6'7 215 pounds and has a 40 inch vertical jump. He has been missed!

Sr. Leader Jona Bermillo

In the 4th, Laval quickly pushed the lead back to 11 points before our 2 veteran guys led us back. Dave was excellent again and Jona took over the game. He was solid down the stretch and hit a crucial 3 pt shot late in the shot clock with a minute to go to put us up 6. Laval was not done as they hit two 3's and had a decent look with 3 seconds before Dave knocked down 2 free throws to seal the win after being fouled on a rebound. We had actually played better the night before, but we will take the win either way!

Jona led us with 19 points, 10 in the 4th quarter. He also added 4 assists. Dave was 6-6 from the floor again for his 2nd perfect statistical shooting night and scored 18 points. Our freshmen were excellent again as Abdul had 9 points & 8 rebounds while Nick had 9 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.

Next up is 1st place McGill. They have been struggling a bit, but are most definitely the team to beat in the our league still. We are at McGill Thursday and will host them on Saturday. Hope to see you at the games!

For our BU alumni...stay tuned, we are planning a pre-game reception next Thursday before our game at Concordia. Details will be out soon. 

Gaiters Struggle Out of the Gate

Thursday @ UQAM

BU               6    16    17      5    -  44
UQAM       19   13    22     16   -  70

As you can gather from the line score we had the majority of our problems at the offensive end. A couple of injuries combined with 6 or 7 weeks since our last game did not help. Despite that, we could have really helped our cause and it would have been a different game if we were converting open layups and making free throws. We shot a paltry 6-21 from the line and our free throw shooting was poor all weekend. We had been shooting over 70% from the line as a team for the year...so, this is not what we expected!

Abdul Kamane, 18 pts & 9 rebounds

Regardless, I felt our guys competed hard on both ends. Our defense and rebounding kept us in the game. For the most part it was about a 12 point game and every opportunity we had to make a run was thwarted by our own doing...missed layups & free throws. With about 6 minutes to go and  down 14 we gambled a little trying to force the issue hoping to change our fortune. However, this backfired allowing the lead to balloon.

Abdul was our leading scorer and rebounder with 18 points and 9 rebounds. We shot 25% from the floor and thus did not have any other double digit scorers.





Saturday vs. UQAM

BU             19     21     17     15   -   72
UQAM      17     13     24     29   -   83

We made offensive strides in this game, but our defense let us down at times in the second half along with UQAM making some very tough shots. Due to injuries and some foul trouble we ended up playing a couple of guys some heavy minutes which cost us in the 2nd half defensively.

We are making improvements each game in multiple areas, but still have freshmen moments. After holding off UQAM's first 3rd quarter run we failed to take advantage of what we were doing well to possibly put them away. We started to fall in love with jump shots in situations where we had advantages attacking the rim. Understanding how shot selection can be dictated by time & score, flow of the game and match-ups is still something we are figuring out. In high school or Cegep, if you can get the shot off without it being blocked it might be considered a good or at least acceptable shot! Not so much at this level!

With 3 minutes to go UQAM was up 2 with the ball, we defended well and they made a contested 3

point shot off a very tough pass late in the shot clock to put them up 5. They basically repeated the same thing the next possession. We had very good offensive possessions in between where we executed well, but just missed some great looks at the rim. It happens! UQAM beat us in the final minutes...we did not beat ourselves. Small consolation for a young team, but I was pleased we played with poise.

Austin Macklem, Freshman Guard

Jona led us with 20 points. Nick was impressive despite foul trouble scoring 18 and grabbing 9 rebounds. Abdul continues to impress with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Freshmen guard Austin Macklem did a nice job defensively this week against some very good guards.

This week we have a bye in our schedule. The following week we host Laval on the Friday and then head to Ste. Foy for the back end of the home & home on Saturday.

On a very positive note, we reviewed our academic performance from the first semester and our guys did an outstanding job. We passed every class taken and had a team average of 78%! I would guess it has to be or at least close to a program best for a BU men's varsity team of any sport in any semester. Coach Craig Norman instituted a stringent academic monitoring program for both basketball teams at BU with both teams have exceptional results.

December is Community Month!

Just an update on what our guys have been doing aside from writing exams in December.

It has been a productive month...it looks like our guys have done very well academically. As a coach, winning the final game of the semester and seeing some great grades makes for a better Christmas Break!

In addition to training and studying, our guys have been busy helping out in the community. On Saturday December 6th our guys raised close to $600 bagging groceries at Provigo Lennoxville for
the Alexander Galt Christmas Basket Fund. This is an initiative started by Gaiter alum Charles Kobelt and we have made this an annual tradition for the past 8 years. We have generated close to $5000 for the charity in that time.

Galt Sports Concentration w/ the Gaiters! 

Our guys have also been involved in the local basketball community. Last week they had an opportunity to spend some time with the Alexander Galt Sport Concentration Program who also uses gym space at BU. BU Men's Assistant Coach Steve Dunn heads the basketball part of Galt's Sports Concentration and it is great to see 30 to 50 high school kids in the BU gyms during the day getting better playing OUR game!

Jr Gaiters...18 strong! 

This past weekend the inaugural version of the Jr Gaiter basketball program played their first games at a local jamboree in Sherbrooke. The Jr Gaiters made up of local grade 4, 5 & 6 kids (many of whom are children of BU alumni) won their 2 games in convincing fashion. Sunday morning they may have met there match though as they 'played' against our BU guys in a bit of a scrimmage! Regardless, they enjoyed being on the court with the guys they look up to in more ways than one. It was a good start & our plan is to grow this program and help develop our talent in the region.





From everyone in our program, we would like to wish you a happy and safe holiday season!

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

Gaiters Topped By Laval

Saturday vs. Laval

BU          27    23     5    21   -   76
UL          17    24    17   25   -   83

We had an opportunity to show how good we can be and how young we can be at times in this game. We shot 70% from the floor in the first half and had a 20 point lead at one point. However, we had 18

Freshman Forward Duncan Lambert

turnovers in the 1st half and 13 in the 3rd quarter! So despite shooting 48% from the floor and out-rebounding Laval 41-28 we lost because we did not take care of the ball.

We had some careless 1st quarter turnovers that we recovered from, but the wheels started to fall off in the final 5 minutes of the 2nd quarter and the 3rd quarter. However, despite having committed 31 turnovers in the first 3 quarters we were still only down 3 heading into the 4th. Unfortunately Laval had seized control of the momentum and we did not show that we have what it takes YET to recover from that. A lot of freshmen moments, but a lot of positives and much to learn from this.

Pete scored 19 points which was tops for us. Abdul & Jona had 15 & 14 respectively. Dave had 11 points, as did freshman Duncan Lambert. Duncan has been solid all year in practice and is earning more court time each game.

Saturday we close out the 1st semester at Concordia before our guys start final exams next week. The games are in the afternoon with the women playing @ 2:00 and the men playing @ 4:00. Hope to see you there!
Rod

Tough Start to League Play

Thursday @ UQAM

BU           12     14    17    32   -  75
UQAM     21    14    16    28   -  79

Jona...25 pts & 6 assists

As you can tell from the line score above, we essentially lost the game in the 1st quarter. We allowed ourselves to get bullied in the first quarter by an older crew. Regardless, I was happy our guys continued to battle despite a not so great start.

The 4th quarter got pretty exciting as we closed a double digit UQAM lead to 2 in the last couple of minutes. A couple of untimely turnovers hurt our cause, but overall our guys showed good poise. Jona almost single handedly brought us back scoring 20 points in the 4th quarter.  Unfortunately, it was not quite enough.

Jona led all scorers with 25 points & 6 assists. Dave added 18 & 7 rebounds. Abdul had 17 points and 6 rebounds while fellow freshman Yassin Naji collected a career high 11 rebounds.


Saturday vs. McGill (CIS #3)

BU          16    19    19    14   -   68
MU         20    26    24    26   -   94

Pete Weston...19 pts vs. McGill

We had trouble defending McGill all night. Even worse, we could not protect our own backboard as they had 24 offensive rebounds to our 21 defensive rebounds. The lack of rebounding combined with the 6 more turnovers than they had turned into 31 more shots for McGill than we attempted. Impossible to win with those stats and amazing that we actually hung around in the game that long...it was an 8 point game midway through the 3rd quarter.

McGill is very good and I would say could be ranked higher than #3 in the CIS. We competed for stretches, but as we found out against Carleton...the best teams in the CIS do not take possessions off. We are not there yet, but are getting better with each passing week.

Pete was our top scorer with 19 points. Jona & Abdul each kicked in 12 while Dave had a quiet 10 points.

Saturday we host Laval. They have some talented seniors who are always a challenge to stop. Defensively we will have to make some strides this week!

I will keep you posted.
Rod

Gaiter Split on New England Tour

Friday @ Worcester Polytechnic Institute

BU        32    45   -   77
WPI      35    32   -   67

This was definitely a good win for us. WPI beat us last year in Lennoxville and is a very good NCAA D3 program who does not lose too many games in their own gym.

We had a slow start and we were in risk of getting blown out. Fortunately we regained our composure

Freshman Wing Abdul Kamane

and reduced at 10 point deficit to 3 at the halftime buzzer. We were pretty solid on both ends of the court in the 2nd half and took control of the game in the final 5 minutes.

Big Jonah Fogg helped keep us in the game in first half scoring all 8 of his career high points in the 1st frame. He and fellow freshman Abdul Kamane were the lone bright spots in the 1st half offensively. Freshman Yassin Naji was excellent defensively after a weak first few minutes.

Abdul led all scorers with 21 points & added 4 assists. Jona & Pete chipped in with 19 & 14 respectively. Yasmin had 7 points & 7 rebounds in a nice performance off the bench.


Saturday @ American International College

BU      26     26   -   52
AIC     40     36   -   76

The story of this game as our 32 turnovers. We have not been close to that since early October. AIC certainly did a good job defensively, but we did not help ourselves. Despite that we got better this game and made some mistakes we will hopefully learn from. This group has been pretty resilient and has shown progress. So, a game like this should be a beneficial experience...we should find that out Thursday @ UQAM!

3rd Yr Guard Pete Weston

Pete led us in scoring with 17 points. Dave had 11 and 6 rebounds. Not much else to speak of from an offensive perspective. We had some decent moments defensively, but when you turn the ball over you are not putting your defense in a position to be successful!












This week we commence RSEQ League play. Thursday we travel to UQAM for an 8pm tip-off. UQAM is a team with talent & athleticism. There will be no easy victories in our league as each of the other 4 teams are experienced and talented. If Thursday is jumping into the frying pan, then Saturday is jumping into the fire! We host McGill and they are currently ranked #3 in the CIS. They return everyone from last year and have added a transfer & recruits that will make them even tougher. Both games will be excellent challenges for our young group and we look forward to having the support of the BU faithful both in Montreal Thursday and back here at Mitchell on Saturday.

I will keep you posted.
Rod

Gaiters @ Guelph & Hawk Challenge

Thursday @ Guelph

BU      14   16   17     8  -   55

UG      18   16   25   15  -   74

We picked up an exhibition game at Guelph before heading to KW for the Laurier Hawk Challenge. This game was a grind. After a first half where we did not play particularly well and turned the ball over 18 times, we still managed to be in the game. The 3rd quarter got off to a decent start and we took a 40-39 lead a few minutes into the quarter. However, the lead was short lived as Guelph went on a run that we could not answer. We were a step slow all night and Guelph did a good job of never allowing us to get going. 

Dave Belanger, 3rd Yr Captain

Dave Belanger led us with 18 points and 11 rebounds. He was one of the lone bright spots for us and has been playing some excellent basketball the last 2 weekends. Jona Bermillo added 10 points. Turnovers were our undoing despite out rebounding Guelph 41-25.

WLU Hawk Challenge

Friday @ Wilfred Laurier  

BU          17   16   22   17  -  72

WLU      20   17   30   14  -   81

Laurier is high scoring team that shoots the ball very well. We did a pretty decent defensive job for most of the game with the exception of the 3rd quarter. Poor 3rd quarters were a common theme for us this weekend. In the 2nd half, we lost them in transition a couple of times & also did a poor job of

Jona Bermillo, 4th Yr Captain

rebounding. These 2 factors opened up the game for Laurier and their 3 point shooters took advantage of that. After limiting them to 2-10 from the 3 point line in the first half, they went 6-10 in the 2nd half which included some daggers that put the game away. 

Dave led us again with 16 points and 7 rebounds. Jona had 14 points  Freshman guard Austin Macklem had a nice game grabbing 7 rebounds and scoring 6 points. 

Saturday vs. Laurentian

BU        18   21   22   18  -  79

LU        13   17   32   15  -  77 

This was a well played and entertaining game…it just had nice flow to it for both teams. Defensively, we were very good with the exception of the 3rd quarter again, but offensively we had better timing & good ball movement. We executed well and had a very nice balance of scoring inside and out. After Pete Weston knocked in his 5th 3pt shot of the first half at the buzzer we had a 9 point lead at the break. However, the Voyageurs outscored us 22-10 in the first 6 minutes of the 3rd quarter erasing that lead. Our guys, to their credit, did not fold after surrendering a nice lead and we battled to keep it close. In the 4th quarter, freshman Nick Harvey carried the load as he scored inside and had a key defensive stop with less than 10 seconds remaining when we had a 1 point lead to secure the win.

Pete led all scorers with 21 points. Dave was very good again with 16 points & 9 rebounds. Nick & Abdul added 12 & 11 points respectively. Jona only had 6 points, but he led us defensively and controlled the game for us throughout.

Once again it was great to have a few BU alumni out to watch us play. A special thanks to Blair Shier who flew in from Vancouver to see the games and bless us with a season's worth of action photos which you will see on this blog each week. Blair is an avid photographer and we really have benefited from his willingness to take the time to not only travel, but take thousands of pictures of our team in action for the past several years. It adds a lot to our program and we are sincerely appreciative. Very fortunate to have alumni who contribute in so many different ways! 

Next up for us is our US tour in Massachusetts  November 6th & 7th at Worcester Polytechnic (NCAA D3) and American International College (NCAA D2). Both teams were conference champions last year and we expect two very difficult games that will prepare us for our RSEQ schedule which opens up on November 12th at UQAM.

I will keep you posted!
Rod

A Couple of Wins @ House-Laughton

House-Laughton Tournament at Carleton University


Friday vs. Toronto

BU        19    17   19   26  -  81
UofT     18    17   18   23  -  76

We certainly looked a lot better this weekend than we had a couple of weeks back at Nipissing. Our guys have worked hard in practice and it paid off this weekend. Still a long way to go though as we were quickly reminded of Sunday vs. Carleton!

This was a pretty well played game by 2 young teams and it was tight throughout. We did a decent job of executing offensively and not turning over the ball. Defensively we played hard as a unit and got some key stops down the stretch when we needed them.


Pete Weston led us with 21 points. Dave Belanger played his best game to date in a Gaiter uniform contributing 19 points & 5 rebounds along with some excellent defense. Jona Bermillo, who was excellent all weekend, had 14 points. Freshman, Abdul Kamane chipped in 10 points and 6 rebounds.  
We would also have to give an assist to Cathy & Bryan McLean (& Matt!) who hosted our team for a pre-game meal Friday afternoon. Much appreciated as always!!


Saturday vs. Acadia

BU      19   15   21   24  -  79
AU      14   17   21   16  -  68

Winning Friday certainly gave us some confidence and some hope that we could compete with Acadia. We figured we would have our hands full though as Acadia had played Carleton pretty tough the night before and we are well aware that there will be no easy games for us this year!  Fortunately, we got off to a good start and Jona Bermillo stepped up to carry us with18 first half points. He only scored 2 in the 2nd half, but did a real nice job running our team.

The 3rd quarter was a bit shaky as Acadia had us on our heels, but we managed to respond and took control of a tight game in the last 4 minutes of the game. A great sign for our young team. Abdul was phenomenal in the 2nd half scoring 23 of his game high 25 points in the 3rd & 4th quarter. He also added 8 rebounds. As previously mentioned, Jona had 20 points while Dave & Pete added 12 a piece. Freshman Nick Harvey was excellent all weekend and he led us with 9 rebounds and some excellent interior D.


Sunday vs. Carleton

BU      17   14   14   15  -  60
CU      24   25   18   21  -  88

Carleton is still very good! Despite graduating some key pieces they are still the gold standard of CIS basketball. Regardless, we played hard and we pushed them at times. Unfortunately, we just don't have the experience, collective strength & polish offensively at this point to be able to challenge them for 40 minutes. After a good start, things started to slide when we began to turn the ball over vs. their vaunted defense. Your offense will often look decent until you face Carleton. We started to make mistakes we had not made all weekend and they quickly capitalized taking control of the game.

It was a great experience playing Carleton and we will learn a lot from this game. Jona was very good again scoring 19 points. Pete had 14 while Nick had a nice game with 9 points & 6 rebounds.

A special thanks to the BU alumni who made it out to our games this weekend. Your support is always appreciated and it is what makes being an athlete at BU special! 


Our next action will be in Southern Ontario this week: 

Men's & Women's Exhibition Doubleheader @ U of Guelph
Thursday October 22nd   Women at 6PM, Men at 8PM   

Hawk Invitational @ Wilfred Laurier U.
Friday October 23rd      8PM       vs.  Wilfred Laurier U 
Saturday October 24th   2PM       vs.   Laurentian U.

Hope to see a few of our alumni at the games!
Rod

Gaiters Open CIS Play @ Nipissing U.

Friday @ Nipissing

BU   15   15   18   22   -   70
NU  17   23   28   15    -   83

The stat  sheet said we had 12 turnovers, but it also said we had 0 defensive rebounds! Neither one of those stats were even close to accurate. We shot ourselves in the foot for the first 2 1/2 games we played this weekend with turnovers. The reality is that 9 of our top 12 players are freshmen and it is early October. We are learning to play together and it is not going happen overnight.

This game, like the whole weekend was a learning experience. We had some good possessions and some bad possessions as we struggled with consistency. In this game when things went poorly we did not have the resolve to turn the tide and our young group quickly realized it was not going to be easy.  Definitely a bit of a wake up call and you can put up a tally mark on the board for a lesson learned by a young team.

3rd year transfer Pete Weston was a bright spot with 22 points in his 1st game as a Gaiter. Freshmen Abdul Kamane and Nick Harvey each chipped in with 12 points.

Saturday vs. Humber College

BU   10   8   15   15  -  48
HC    8   18  25   15  -  66

Humber is the defending Canadian College champions and are a mature group who play very much like a good CIS team.  So, this was going to be a tough game especially since Humber had got whacked by 50 the day before  vs. Western. You knew their pride had taken a hit and they were going to bounce back.

Despite that we hung very tough for the first 17 minutes before the stat of the game caught up with us...33 turnovers! We had a several turnovers in the first quarter, but many of those were of the deadball variety where we could set our defense. The 2nd quarter was not like that. Humber quickly capitalized on our turnovers & scored quickly.

The 2nd half was better than the first and this game was better than the day before. Yet I could not say we played much good basketball. Dave Belanger and Pete Weston led us in scoring with 14 & 13 points respectively.

Sunday vs. Western

BU       8   11   19   15   -   53
WU     19  26   11   17   -   73

Despite the score this was a great game for us. We played against a mature team where every guy plays hard on every possession. They execute well at both ends of the floor and it was exactly what our guys needed to see and play against.

Being down 26 at the half  was a product of our 18 first half turnovers and not our compete level. We had 7 turnovers in the 2nd half as shared & moved the ball better. Our guys started to buy into how valuable it is to pass the ball without dribbling it first. A simple thing, but so underrated and hard for young guys to understand! So, what could have turned into a terrible 50 point loss was a 20 point loss where we really got better in the 2nd half. We just have to make sure we build on that last 20 minutes of the weekend.

Abdul led us with 13 points and did a great job rebounding at both ends as small forward. Nick had 12 points and Jona Bermillo got back on track adding 11 points while doing a real nice job of running the point guard spot for us.

We have Thanksgiving Weekend off, but head to Carleton the following weekend to play in the House-Laughton Tournament:
Friday October 16th  v. Toronto @ 6 pm
Saturday October 17th v. Acadia @ 6 pm
Sunday October 18th v. Carleton @ 2 pm

We hope to see you there!
Rod