NPH CIS Preview: Brock Badgers

Last Season:

Overall	Pct.	Conf.	Pct.	Streak	Home	Away
18-22	.450	10-12	.455	W1	4-8	6-4

Head Coach: Brad Rootes

Assistant Coaches: Brian Mulligan, Craig Steel, Greg Newton, Joel Whitty

Key Players: Jameson Tipping, Tshing Kasamba, Mark Gibson

Incoming Recruits: 

• Issack Egueh, 6-0 guard from Ottawa
• Brandon John, 6-2 guard from Toronto
• Chris Milewicz, 6-9 forward from St. Catharines

Departures: Didi Mukendi, Andrew Kraus, Andrew Ferguson, Jay Fleming

With NPH in attendance at the final game of the RBC Classic in St. Catharines, the host Badgers defeated Queen’s University 92-79 led by the 32-point scoring explosion of junior guard Jameson Tipping.

As if the 32 points weren’t enough, the Orangeville native also hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds and went a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line to tie the Brock single game record.

Tipping also led the Badgers in scoring last season but will be counted on to do much more this year with the departures of three starters in Didi Mukendi and Andrew Kraus, the team’s second and third leading scorers respectively, and Andrew Ferguson.

“He’s definitely one of our go-to guys offensively,” Brock head coach Brad Rootes told NPH about a week after the 32-point game.

“He’s an extremely talented player and he’s done a better job so far this year of showing some leadership and helping the team in any way, shape or form he can. He’s one of the more talented players in the league and if he stays focused he should have a very good season.”

The 6-7 guard averaged 14.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists last season as a part-time starter, helping the Badgers to the playoffs where they lost to Windsor in the OUA West quarter-finals, and will see his role increased in the 2012-13 campaign.

Tshing Kasamba, a 6-5 forward from St. Catharines (11.0 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 1.3 steals last season) will also be stepping into a full-time starters role this season as will Mark Gibson, a 6-6 fifth-year forward from Toronto (10.8 PPG, and a team-leading 6.2 RPG).

A 6-0 point guard from Ottawa, Issack Egueh, cracks the rotation straight out of high school and will join Tipping, Kasamba and Gibson in the starting line-up.

“Isaack Egueh is our starting point guard this year and he’s had a good preseason, with lots of learning curve, but he’s definitely going to have a nice career here,” said Rootes.

“Our one young guy who does play a lot is playing the point guard, which is a very important position obviously so his development will probably go a long way to see how far we go this year as a team.”

Starting at centre is seven-foot transfer Mike Luby, an experienced and versatile big man from Kenora, who formerly played for Windsor but left the team to focus on his family after stints with several junior colleges.

The veteran rotation features seven players in either their fourth or fifth year including Brian Nahimana, a 6-10 forward from London (7.4 PPG, 4.4 RPG), and Michael Williams, a 6-2 wing from Brampton (6.0 PPG).

Rounding out what Rootes believes will be an eight-man rotation are transfers Kek Biel, a 6-5 forward from Windsor who played at Adams State University in Colorado, and C.J. Smith, a 6-0 guard from Scarborough who redshirted with the team last year after coming from Niagara College and is still working his way back from a broken foot.

“Last year we made the playoffs for the first time in a few years and we just hope to move forward and keep getting better as a team,” said Rootes. “Our goal at the start of the season was to get better all the time and we feel like we’ve done a pretty good job over the past few weeks and we’ve taken a big step forward and getting excited for conference play.”

Brock opened the OUA season on Nov. 9 with a victory over the Laurentian Voyageurs, followed by a one-point loss to York. The 1-1 Badgers will travel to the Nation’s capital for a tough test against a motivated Carleton team, and an equally hungry Ottawa Gee-Gees squad.