Laurier Golden Hawks Squeeze By McGill Led by William Couthard
Top Performers
Laurier:
William Coulthard – Pts: 17 (8-10FT), Reb: 4, Ast: 5, Stl: 2, Min: 30
Matthew Buckley – Pts: 13, Reb: 11, Ast: 0, Stl: 3, Min: 39
McGill:
Winn Clark – Pts: 20, Reb: 4, Ast: 0, Stl: 2, Min: 26
OTTAWA,ON- Laurier and McGill battled down to the wire in a close game to open the 2011 Jack Donohue tournament at Ottawa U, but the surging Redmen could not catch the Golden Hawks and Laurier prevailed 64 – 61.
Laurier jumped out to an early lead, but McGill persisted nipping at the heels of the Golden Hawks, never allowing a comfortable lead.
Laurier started the game playing man-on-man defense, while McGill opted for zone. After a couple of wasted posessions, Tristan Renaud-Tremblay opened the scoring for the Redmen.
William Coulthard started the Laurier run with a three-pointer, and Kyle Enright capped the 10-0 run with a three-pointer of his own.
Laurier then took over on the boards, controlling the offensive glass and getting second chances. After a William Coulthard three, the score was 19-9 heading into the second quarter.
Laurier was cycling and looking confident, but McGill got right back into the game with full-court pressure defense, and outscored Laurier 12-7 in the period. An 8-0 McGill run was led by Cody Mazza-Anthony and demonstrated the tenacity of the Redmen in this game.
Scoring by Matt Donnelly and Matt Buckley helped the Golden Hawks open a 26-21 lead at halftime.
McGill coach John Dangelas stressed why this game was important by telling his team “You might mess up now, but you can’t mess up next Thursday against Concordia,” indicating their regular season opener.
Both teams look to tune up and get some competitive action before the starts to their respective seasons. Laurier forward Matt Buckley told NPH “we’re missing three guys, so the big thing about this tournament is we’re trying to get guys experienced for the season. We want to have a deeper team this year.”
McGill’s Karim Sy-Morrisette hit a three, then posted up for two more to make the score 28-26. Te-Jour Riley dunked a highlight and Winn Clark tied the game at 30 for McGill, and Laurier coach Peter Campbell showed his frustration, registering a technical foul.
The game was tied at 42, but Laurier closed the half strong and took a 46-42 advantage back to the locker room.
Laurier stormed out to big lead 51-42, but McGill made another mini-comeback and closed the gap to 56-54
After Kyle Enright stretched the Laurier lead to 62-57, McGill’s Winn Clark shot a clutch three-pointer, which brought the game within reach 62-60.
In the final posession, two McGill threes come up short, and the Golden Hawks took a 64-61 win for Laurier.
Matt Buckley of Laurier discussed the win with NPH and said “The big thing was staying on the glass, they’re a physical team so we have to keep them off the glass and we have to stay composed when they press us. Our rookie William Coulthard did a really good job against the press at the end.”
McGill plays tomorrow at 6pm against UNB.
Laurier plays tomorrow at 8pm against Ottawa U.
