Alberta 72 Saint Marys 62  

The Canada West champs polish off the Atlantic  winners, after a shaky opening 20 minutes, where the Huskies erase an early 7 point deficit with 7 treys over the last 13 minutes of the half. Their 11-1 run gives StM a 25-17 lead early in the 2nd.

Meanwhile, the Bears go 0-9 on their deep attempts before 2nd year guard, Youssef Ouahrig, hits one early in the 3rd to break the ice. Ouahrig caps that stanza with another trey to give Alberta a 53-48 advantage. The Bears outscore a rattled Huskies team 39-25 in the 2nd half, while shooting 17/27 free throws compared to only 6/10 for the ‘Dogs.  Saint Marys cools off considerably in the final 20 minutes, finishing with a 36% FG mark, while the Bears are 40%, and control the rebounding  50-31.  The game is marred by sloppy ball-handling, serving up 38 turnovers between the 2 teams.

Alberta speeds up their offensive attack, and converts  following several Huskies’ turnovers. Jordan Baker scores 17 and grabs 9 boards for the winners, with Joel Friesen adding 11, and Ouahrig hits 10.  Canada West Rookie of the Year, Mamadou Gueye, is off the bench with 9 points on 4/6 shooting, as Coach Barnaby Craddock rolls his line-up over effectively; 9 players get 14+ minutes, including 6-11 post man, Rob Dewar, who was back after his absence due to injury.

Saint Marys have guards Boyd Vassell and Marquis Clayton scoring 13 points apiece, with Clayton adding 5 assists. 12 Huskies 3 point field goals keep the game as close as it was, with Clayton (3/8) and Jeremy McAvoy (3/6) doing much of the work.

The ‘Dogs got very little ‘in the paint’ scoring, with their forwards, Harry Ezenibe (2), Riley Halpin (6), and Terrence Taylor (0) not making their usual impact.    Box Score

The Bears will play in the 6 pm semi-final against the 3-time defending champions, Carleton Ravens, who defeated McMaster in the 2nd afternoon quarter-final game.

 

Ravens Wear Down McMaster

Carleton  82  McMaster  64  –  Carleton  opens up an 8 point gap in the 1st 10 minutes, then  allows McMaster to hang around for much of the next 15. The Ravens pull away, sparked by Thomas Scrubb’s 14 second half points. The Marauders gave extra attention in the first half to Thomas’ brother Phil, the Ravens’ point man, and the CIS’ 3-time Player of the Year.

McMaster goes on a 10-0 run to end the 1st and start the 2nd quarter, but Carleton responds with 9 points by Phil Scrubb to finish the half again with their 8 point advantage. A lot of hard work on defense by Mac could not stop the Ravens from hitting 51% from the floor vs just 36% from the Marauders. Carleton edged an aggressive Mac squad off the glass, 45-40.

Phil Scrubb  with 21 points, and Thomas Scrubb hitting 20 led the charge for the Black Birds, and Thomas led all rebounders with 14.  Leon Alexander was the top man for McMaster off the bench with 14 points plus 5 rebounds; Rohan Boney was steady for Mac as well, recording 7 points, 7 boards, and 5 assists.

There was never a late run for McMaster, as they had seen on many occasions in OUA competition, with Carleton defense and rebounding limiting chances in the final 5 minutes.  The Marauders’ usual high scorer, Joe Rocca,  was held in check, mostly by Thomas Scrubb, and Rocca was just 2/7 for 4 points.

The Ravens meet the Alberta Golden Bears in Saturday’s 1st semi-final at 6 pm EST on Rogers 360 TV.  Box Score

 

Vikes To Semis With Win Over McGill

 

Victoria  63  McGill  54   –   McGill  has real trouble in a) guarding Chris McLaughlin in the post, and b) getting anything in the hoop after their opening burst of treys, with a grand total of 13 in the middle 20 minutes.  UVic  establishes a 44-33 lead, with the Redmen going cold from the perimeter, and getting few chances in the paint.

We find ourselves ‘watching the paint dry’ with an 9–4  third quarter as the Vikes ‘pull away’. Vikes weren’t tearing it up on offense either, but playing even with McGill in the final stanza gave the Canada West runners-up a berth in the Semi-finals.

Victoria’s Chris McLaughlin battles McGill’s Dele Ogundokun.      Photo – Canadian Press

The stats are revealing here, with McGill shooting just 28% from the floor vs 41% for UVic; the Vikes get 45 vs 40 rebounds, and, tellingly, with their inside attack, Victoria hits 17/27 from the line, where McGill gets just 7 chances, making all 7.  The Quebec champs stuck around in the 4th, as a flurry of UVic turnovers gave them bonus shots.

Victoria gets 19 points / 11 rebounds / 4 steals from their 5th year wing man, Terrell Evans, in 37 minutes of play. Chris McLaughlin has 16 points and 7 boards, while point man, Marcus Tibbs, hits 15, grabs 7 rebounds, and dishes out 4 assists. McGill have Francois Bourque with 14 points / 8 rebounds, and Simon Bibeau adds 12 points / 6 boards.   Box Score

The Vikes play the Ottawa Gee-Gees in the 2nd Semi-final at 8 pm EST on Sportsnet 360.

 

Ottawa Scoring Machine Torches Huskies

 Ottawa  94 Saskatchewan  73   –   The Gee-Gees  hit their offensive mark, as Saskatchewan loses the rhythm in the 4th quarter, and Ottawa piles it on at the finish. It was a back and forth affair for much of the way, as the Huskies fought back from a couple of deficits, and gave the Gee-Gees some cause for concern in the mid-game.

Turnovers (18 against just 9 from Ottawa) became very costly for the Dogs, as OU turned U of S miscues into easy baskets in the final stanza. Ottawa was 1st in scoring average in the CIS at 96.4 ppg. , and they showed how quickly they can snowball the total with their quickness and shooting touch amassing 51 in the 2nd half.

Terry Thomas  ( 24 pts, 9 rebounds, 5 steals),  and  Johnny Berhanemeskel (20 pts, 7 assists) led the way for the top seeds, as they hit  50% from the field, and  42 % from the outside.  Saskatchewan has  Stephon Lamar with 15  points, 9 assists,  and 7 rebounds ,  and Matt Forbes  works hard for 18 pts and 10  boards for a double-double. Andrew Henry hit 4 of 11 trey attempts for 14 points, as the Dogs shoot 38% from the floor, including 36% from beyond the arc.

The Gee-Gees will now play Victoria Vikes in a match-up of the high octane offense of Ottawa and the strong-willed defense for UVic;  their 2nd Semi-final is slated for 8 pm EST on Rogers Sportsnet 360.   Box Score

 

Overtime

 

• The video stream is a cruel medium, as our Calgary group discovers.  We are sitting pretty in our  ’theatre’ with the I-Pad connection, but at several other sites, friends are frustrated with ‘buffering’ for much of the late morning and afternoon. A TV contract would be nice; perhaps we could do without the World Poker Tour and repeats of Sports Centre ?

•   There’s no way to finesse this comment – Are you kidding with the play-by-play guy for CIS TV in the Alberta – Saint Marys game ?  There are voices for the air-waves, and people with a bit of experience; this is not the guy.  Fortunately, Neate Sager is the color-man, and he provides some good backgound and analysis. Then we’re treated to the ultimate ‘Homer’ operation in game 2, as the Carleton broadcast crew give us, ‘Timmy, to Tyson, for Phil ….”  And, can you tell us again how upset Coach Smart is about his point man being ‘manhandled‘ ?

• We have Daylight Savings Time coming at us this Saturday-Sunday, so the turnaround for the winners of the Semi-finals will be 1 hour shorter in preparation for the 2 pm EDT tip-off. The losers of 1st round games play early consolation contests on Saturday – Saint Marys vs McMaster at 12:30 EST, Saskatchewan vs McGill at 2:30 EST – on CIS TV .

•   The attendance announced at 3500 odd is a little disappointing to organizers you would think.  Perhaps with 2 evening Semi-finals involving the 2 Ottawa schools, we might get at least double that?  Two Canada West vs two Ontario teams in this pair of big games. The OUA will be favoured in both, and the hope out East will be for a repeat of last weekend’s OUA Final match-up.