RSEQ Week #1

Saturday vs. UQAM

BU                    17       15       26       20   -   78

UQAM             12       27       18       18   -   75

We were not exactly sharp in this game, but all things considered we will take the win. We were playing without Nervens and 2 minutes into the game Joany came out with strained calf. He did not return.  That’s 2 of our starting guards not in the line-up! To compound that Zion dislocated his elbow halfway through the 3^rd quarter…he is our 6^th man and one of our top 4 guards. Our depth is pretty good, but that had us playing some line-ups that are a bit unfamiliar.

Kevin Davis - Sr Tri-Captain

After a solid 1^st quarter we fell apart for 10 minutes. Turned over the ball and made way too many gameplan/scouting report mistakes that led to easy UQAM scores. Fortunately our guys bounced back to play a strong 3^rd Q. After being down 7 at the half we regained the lead before the end of the quarter.  With about 3 minutes to go in the 3^rd Zion made an athletic attempt at blocking a shot, but while heading to the floor he lost balance and used his arm to help break his fall. It resulted in a gruesome looking dislocated elbow. He is OK, but will be out for the rest of the semester. Definitely a bit traumatic for not only Z, but also his teammates. The guys regained composure and came out the break with a nice read on O that lead to a highlight dunk by Jordan. See the video below. 

The 4^th quarter was tight, but we did maintain a small lead throughout pushing the lead to 7 in the final minute to close out the game. Kevin was outstanding with 19 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists (only 3 turnovers), 2 steals & 2 blocked shots. He certainly picked up the slack with the 2 other starting guards out. Abdul struggled, but still managed 17 points and 8 rebounds. Jordan gave us a nice boost off the bench with 13 points  and 2 blocked shots. Both Jordan & Yassin really stepped up in the 2^nd half of this game. Yass had 9 points, 6 rebounds & 4 assists.

Thursday we travel to McGill to face the Redmen at 8 pm before hosting Laval on Saturday night back in Lennoxville.

Tour of New England

Thursday at Bentley U

Bishop’s        33       20   -   53

Bentley          50       48   -   98

Not a whole lot of positive highlights in this game. Bentley is a very good team, but we were not exactly sharp and should have given them a better game.

Joany with 14 points

Defensively we did not communicate and did not battle to the best of our ability every possession. Bentley plays 5 out positionless motion that requires each guy on your team to be locked in defensively and ready to guard both inside and at the 3 point line. Definitely a different style to what most teams we see play. Regardless, it was a great opportunity to get better and understand the importance of guarding  the entire floor and for the entire shot clock…30 seconds at the NCAA level.

Offensively we did not consistently move the ball and had a season high 22 turnovers. More travels than normal and several offensive fouls…the same for both games actually. Some great teachable moments on the video though!

Except for a few brief moments in the first half there we had few good runs. Joany led us with 14 points and Jordan had 10 points & 5 rebounds.

Friday at Saint Anselm College

BU       29       34   -   63

SAC     57       38   -   95

St. A’s is in the same conference as Bentley and along with being ranked #6 in the preseason NCAA D2 polls they are the favourite to win the NE-10. So, we knew what we were up against.

Our effort and execution was much better in this game with the exception of a slow start and a spurt in the 1^st half  where St. A’s talented back court really hurt us. We struggled with foul issues in the 1^st half…this game was called much more tightly than the night before. I would say that half of the fouls against us will not be fouls this week when we open up against UQAM. The NCAA rules take any physicality out of the game and touch fouls can really take the flow out of the game. Fouls were 16-5 in the first half…not in our favour, but were even in the 2^nd half. Happy we started to adapt!

Jordan Thornhill - 2nd Yr FWD

Nervens & Kevin led us in scoring with 14 & 12 respectively.

This Saturday  is a special day at BU as we honour Gaiter legend Garth Smith who passed away this summer. Garth was a pillar in our community as the local golf pro, BU golf coach and of  course of the Gaiter basketball coach for 25  years. Garth had such a positive impact on so many people and certainly left his mark on BU and Lennoxville.

Also on Saturday we will be inaugurating our new team room which was made possible by the generosity of Gaiter alum Blair Shier. It is a fantastic room and our guys are so fortunate to have this long awaited upgrade.

It’s no coincidence that this date was chosen for these 2 important alumni events. We open RSEQ league play  vs. UQAM Saturday evening. UQAM has had some signature wins already this season over top ten teams Ryerson and Ottawa. They have a talented & dangerous team. The game will be all the more challenging as we will not have the services of starting guard Nervens Demosthene. He has to sit out a 1 game suspension for receiving 2 unsportsmanlike fouls in our playoff game last February. They were two fouls on the ball that were neither malicious or dangerous…questionable judgement & application of a rule that has been changed for the coming season.  Regardless, I am confident our guys will be up to the task.

Exhibition in QC City

Friday vs. Memorial @ Laval

BU       20       18       31       19   -   88

MUN   21       26       14       11   -   72

We were fortunate enough to pick up an exhibition game not too far from home as Memorial was in Quebec City playing Laval. Although I am not sure I felt exactly that fortunate in the first half of this game!

Nervens playing above the rim! 

Traveling is never an issue for us and we don’t allow it to be an issue, but we were flat after jumping out of our vans and onto the court.  In the first half we were slow defensively as we did not communicate or get into a stance off the ball. We were a step late on everything and Memorial made us pay. We have been more of a 2^nd half team this year which is not all bad, but we do have to tighten up some things earlier in the game as our league will be tighter than it has EVER been from top to bottom. A couple of bad starts could be the difference between hosting a playoff game or not making the playoffs at all…we really expect the RSEQ to be that tight this year.

Pushing the ball ahead on the break! 

Back to the game…defensively we were much more engaged in the 3^rd quarter which allowed us to counter attack and score quickly in transition. Abdul has struggled all pre-season after a tough summer of injuries. He had a stint with the Lebanese National Team in June/July, but seriously sprained his ankle a couple of weeks before heading to Lebanon. This was to his detriment as he played without being quite ready. It was not until this game where we saw flashes of his 2017-18 self. He was a factor defensively, played with great pace and scored at the rim in transition. He also passed the ball very well…a part of his game that is getting better and better.  All in all, Memorial had a hard time dealing with our team speed in the 2^nd half and we were able to wear them down to get the win.

Nervens had 19 to lead our scorers. Abdul had 18 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 0 turnovers. Joany shot the ball well scoring 15. Kevin chipped in 11 and grabbed a team high 9 rebounds…he is definitely one of the better rebounding guards in the country.

6’6 freshman forward Emile Babin is starting to impact our rotation after missing the first 6 weeks of

Freshman Emile Babin

the year with a stress fracture in his foot. He was 4-4 from the floor and brings a very athletic & physical presence to our front line. This fills a void as we have lost 7’0 Jonah Fogg. Jonah suffered another concussion in September and with his history of documented concussions he has to retire from competitive basketball. Jonah is a great person and we feel very badly that he has to stop playing. He will remain part of our program and has already begun coaching at the youth level.

This week we head into New England to play 2 legendary Northeast 10 NCAA D2 programs in Bentley & St. Anselm’s. Both are fantastically coached and are continually at the top of one of the best NCAA D2 leagues. St. A’s is pre-season #6 in the NCAA and Bentley will challenge them for a league title as usual. It will be great prep as we head into league play the following week.

Game times:

Thursday 7:30 PM @ Bentley U  (Waltham, Mass)

Friday 6:00 PM @ St. Anselm’s College (Manchester, NH)

Naismith Tourney Report

Naismith Tournament at U of Waterloo

Thursday vs. Ottawa

BU       25       21       10       21   -   77

UO       24       22       19       16   -   81

Ottawa, as usual, has another strong team. They proved that beating a very talented UBC team the day after our game. Regardless, we have had a number of exciting games vs. Ottawa over the years and this was no exception. Both teams have very good guard play and generally shoot the ball pretty well.

Sr Guard Kevin Davis

The game was tight throughout with very few big runs by either team. The exception was a 3 minute stint in the 3^rd Q where we got loose with the ball and made some turnovers that Ottawa quickly capitalized on. We managed to hang on though and regained our poise staying within striking distance.

In the 4^th we defended well which gave us a chance to get back into it. Despite Ottawa making a couple of tough 3 point shots at key times we did have the lead down to 4 with less than a minute to go and with us shooting 2 free throws. We unfortunately missed the free throws and from there we just could not get any closer.

Nervens led us with 17 points, 7 rebounds & 4 assists. Kevin continued his excellent play with 14 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists & 3 steals. Abdul who has been struggling with injuries showed flashes of his old self with 11 points & 10 rebounds while 4^th year forward Andrew Howarth had 10 points & 7 rebounds. Drew has been solid all season as his consistent play has really anchored our 5 spot.

Friday vs. Waterloo

BU       17       18       16       18       15(OT)   -   84

UW     26       8         19       16       10(OT)   -   79

As the score would suggest this was an exciting game. After a less than stellar  defensive 1^st quarter we locked in a bit and got back in control with an 18-2 run to start the 2^nd Q. Waterloo hung tough anytime it looked like we could put some distance between us and them. Any time we pushed they pushed back until the very last second of the 4^th Q and the end of OT.

Late in the 4^th we had 1 point lead. We got a defensive stop which we turned into a quick transition    layup at the buzzer to send it to OT. Tough last minute, would have been over if we made our free throws, but you have to give Waterloo credit for making plays when they had to.

Freshmen Zion Vervroegen

layup with 18 seconds to go. We ended going 1-2 from the line twice in the final 18 seconds and Waterloo found ways to stay in it as they made a

With Zion & Abdul fouled out we headed to OT with Waterloo carrying the momentum. Fortunately our guys did not hang their heads and we played  a very good 5 minutes to secure the win.

Joany had a good night after really struggling with his shot vs. Ottawa. He had 23 points & 7 rebounds. Nervens added 16, Abdul had 12 and Zion had 11. Kevin & DJ each had 8 rebounds from the guard spots. Kevin also scored 12 points.

Saturday vs. Laurier

BU       22       20       22       17   -   81

WLU   16       15       20       16   -   67

I was not sure what we had left after the OT game the night before. Fortunately our guys were tough and continued from right where they left off the night before with our defense leading the way.

2nd Yr Guard - Nervens Demosthene

Our guards did a nice job of forcing Laurier to run their offense further out than normal which took a bit of the rhythm out of their game. It was not perfect, but defensively we are getting better each game. Assistant coach Matt McLean has done an excellent job teaching our defense and preparing our guys for each opponent.

After leading by 11 at the half we came out and pushed the lead to 19 in the 3^rd. Laurier pushed back, but never got closer than 12 the rest of the game. Kevin led us with 20 points. Jordan, Zion & Nervens all had 12. Abdul had 9 with 14 rebounds.

All in all it was good weekend for us. We are seeing progress and have shown we can learn from previous games. We are finding some balance on offense and definitely building some confidence on defense. This team is fun to watch play and more importantly for me, fun to coach!

Photos courtesy of Gaiter Alum Blair Shier!

We have had some tough losses, but some good wins so far. Looking forward the next few weeks of practice in order to prep for our league schedule. We have a scrimmage Friday vs. Thetford, 1 exhibition game vs Memorial the following week before heading to New England to face a couple of NCAA D2 powerhouses before league play.