Ottawa Gee Gee’s Get Commitment From Hamilton Sniper Moe Ismail

OTTAWA,ON–Moe Ismail’s focus for the beginning of March was not which school he would attend in September, but rather going after a AAA OFSAA title to cap off his high school basketball career. This is the type of player Ismail is; focused on task , competitive and driven to be the best.  Although his Sherwood team came short of his goal a little more than a week ago, Ismail posted 27 points and grabbed 7 rebounds, while dishing out 4 assists. This is the typical stat line of the 6’4 shooting guard of Hamilton, Ontario.

As a result of his steady shooting stroke, Ismail has garnered the attention of a handful of OUA (Ontario UniversityAthletics) programs as well as schools outside of the province. The decision has been made and the Sniper will be attending the University of Ottawa to suit up in a Gee Gee’s uniform.

Head Coach James Derouin is getting the pieces together in order to get in contention for the OUA final four next season. Ismail will be a fitting new addition to a Gee Gee squad that has some budding young talent in the unselfish guard play of Michael L’Afracain and newest forward Vikas Gill.

Ottawa’s newest Gee Gee expresses his devotion to his new team and coach stating, “He’s a young coach so it’s easy to relate to him and he really cares about his guys.”

Coach ” Jimmy,” as the team calls him, has a heck of a coaching resume, including two CIS Championship appearances as an assistant coach for the UBC Thunderbirds.

Ismail continues, “The whole Ottawa team is a really tight family who love ball and I think he has a major role in creating that atmosphere.”

The importance of Ismail on the wing is that he is filling the role of a go to scorer as a threat from the perimeter, while taking some weight off of Johnny Berhanemeskel.

With CIS star Warren Ward approaching his final year as a Gee Gee, Ismail can expect to play big minutes in the coming years considering he continues to put in work and develop his penetration game. Ottawa is bound to cause havoc for teams because they are now loaded with artillery.

Ismail seeks to continue to make improvements in his game by becoming physically stronger and working on tough finishes at the rack.

“I want to put on about 15 pounds of muscle in the off season. That will allow me to protect the ball better on my way to the basket and create space on the wings. It would give me the ability to absorb contact and finish easier around the basket.”

With the length on Ismail and his newly refined mentality on the defensive end, he wants to “become a better on ball defender and become a guy who locks other players down.” Adding this to his game could have him chasing CIS Rookie of the Year. Perhaps it’s too early to call that out, but not unlikely or impossible.

Ismail Joins 6’3 G Caleb Agada and 6’9 post Matt Nelson in the 2012-2013 Gee-Gees recruiting class.

The whole NPH team wishes Moe Ismail all the best in his future endeavours as a student-athlete.