CIS men's basketball Saturday roundup

Source: Cape Breton Sports Info

The Cape Breton University Capers wrapped up the home portion of their schedule on the wrong side of a 68-56 decision to the Acadia Axemen in AUS men’s basketball action Saturday in Sydney.

Sean McCormick led the Capers offensively, finishing with 14 points and 21 rebounds as CBU fell to 9-10 overall.

Meshack Lufile added 14 points and six boards while Lee MacQuarrie in his final game at the Sullivan Fieldhouse, chipped in with eight points and four rebounds.

Anthony Ashe had 18 points for the first place Axemen, who improved to 14-4 this season.

Owen Klassen added 12 points and 14 rebounds for the winners.

The Capers will finish the regular season next weekend when they travel to Fredericton to face the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds.

Source: Dara Amin, Western Sports Info

LONDON, Ont. – Twenty-six points from Will Coulthard and another 23 from Max Allin lead the Laurier Golden Hawks to a 100-78 win over the Western Mustangs men's basketball team on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall.
 
"I think mentally we weren't all there to start the game and Laurier is the type of team that can explode on you offensively," said Mustangs head coach Brad Campbell. "We gave a lot of open shots and made some mistakes defensively and a lot of Laurier's players felt good about themselves on offence."
 
The Mustangs will now watch the out of town scoreboard as the Mustangs 8-14 record guarantees them either fourth or fifth place in the OUA West. Western's final standing will be determined by the winner of tonight's Lakehead-Guelph matchup, as a win by the Thunderwolves will put them two points ahead of the Mustangs giving them fourth place, while a loss clinches fourth place for Western. Regardless of the outcome of tonight's game the Thunderwolves and Mustangs will face off in an OUA Quarterfinal matchup next Wednesday.
 
Despite the loss, the Mustangs players put up solid offensive numbers of their own with four players in double digits including Peter Scholtes leading the pack with 21 points, Eric McDonald scoring 15 points, and both Greg Morrow and Rashayne Case adding 14 each.
 
The Golden Hawks took control of the game early in the first half with a string of baskets that the Mustangs were not able to keep up with going on a 13-3 run just past the midway point of the first quarter to end the opening 10 minutes up 28-13. Despite trading points to open the second frame the Golden Hawks slowly began to pull away, thanks in part their control of their boards as they recorded 10 second chance points in the first half. After 20 minutes the visiting Golden Hawks took a 52-29 lead into halftime.
 
Western began to pull closer in the third quarter thanks in part to three-point shooting from McDonald and Cameron Morris and containing the Golden Hawks to only two points in the final three minutes to cut the Laurier lead to 69-54 after the third frame. Despite the Mustangs improved play in the third the Golden Hawks put things away in the fourth as Coulthard drained five three pointers in the period, including three in less than 90 seconds, to cement a 100-78 victory.
 
The Mustangs now turn their attention to the post-season and a first round matchup with the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Wednesday, February 19 with the place and time still to be determined.

Source: Bill Malley, McMaster Communications

On a day when they didn't play their best, the McMaster men's basketball team picked up steam in the second half and defeated the Waterloo Warriors 90-68 in the final league game of the OUA West schedule.
 
Prior to the game, McMaster honoured its only graduating player as fifth-year senior Nathan Pelech was presented with a framed Marauder jersey to recognize his career in Maroon.
 
The Warriors came out like a team with something to prove to the first-place Marauders and behind their outstanding freshman guard Myles Charvis, ended the first quarter with the lead at 27-24. Charvis was on fire early and scored 17 in the opening 10 minutes.
 
Waterloo continued to play well in the second quarter and was in front 36-32 midway through the period when McMaster seemed to notice they were in a tough game. Sparked by Adam Presutti, the Marauders finished the quarter on an 11-2 run to take a 43-38 lead at the half. Trying to exploit its size advantage, McMaster went inside as much as possible and got production from Nathan McCarthy and Leon Alexander. Charvis cooled off some but still had 21 points in the first half.
 
Now playing with the lead in the third quarter, McMaster was more aggressive attacking the basket and fouls became an issue for the Warriors. McMaster got the lead as high as 59-47, before ending the quarter with a 10-point advantage at 66-56.
 
Unable to get the margin under 10 and perhaps suffering some fatigue from playing fewer bodies, Waterloo could not keep McMaster at bay in the final stanza. McCarthy continued to power inside and Presutti continued to hit from outside and on drives to the hoop. McMaster was able to clear the bench and close out the 90-68 win to finish league play with an 18-4 record.
 
McCarthy was the top Marauder shooter with 23 points and also grabbed nine rebounds to just miss the double-double. Presutti added 18, Alexander 15, and Joe Rocca 10 as the Marauders came up with another balanced effort. Charvis finished with a game-high 28 for the Warriors.
 
McMaster dominated the battle of the boards 54-24, with Mac's Taylor Black the top rebounder with 12 caroms for the game.
 
The Marauders will now wait to find out who their opponent will be in the playoffs, but they know they will be in the Burridge Gym for an OUA West semi-final on Saturday, February 22nd with a 2 p.m. tip-off.

Source: Elisa Mitton, Windsor Sports Information Coordinator

St. Catharines, Ont. - The No. 5 Lancer men’s basketball team defeated the Brock Badgers 85-72 in their final regular season game on Saturday afternoon in St. Catharine’s, ON.

Windsor finishes the year second overall in the OUA west division with a 16-6 record behind the first place McMaster Marauders. The Lancers have earned a bye from the first round of the playoffs, and will host the OUA west division semi-finals on Saturday February 15th at 4:00pm at the St. Denis Centre.

Windsor controlled the game from the opening tip-off and held a 37-23 lead at the half. The Lancers continued to put pressure on the Brock defense throughout the second half and easily won the match by thirteen.

Lien Phillip led the Lancers with 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Josh Collins had 17 points and nine assists. First year Lancer Khalid Abdel-Gabar had a 13 points and 5 rebounds in the win.

Phillip ends his five year Lancer career as Windsor’s all-time leading rebounder with 1125 rebounds, and third on the all-time scoring list with 1338 points. Collins also finishes his Lancer career atop the leader board with 543 career assists, and 227 steals placing him first overall in those categories.

Enrico Diloreto, who did not dress for the game against Brock, finishes his five year Lancer career with 1477 points to become Windsor’s all-time leading scorer.

Tickets for the OUA west semi-finals will be available on Wednesday. Stay tuned to goLancers.ca for more information on how to purchase tickets in advance.

Source: Cary Mellon, UBC Okanagan Sports Information Director

KAMLOOPS, BC - A strong defensive second half keyed the UBC Okanagan Heat on to 73-60 victory over the Thompson Rivers WolfPack in Canada West men’s basketball action in the old Thompson Rivers gymnasium in Kamloops Saturday afternoon.

All four of the Heat’s graduating players were applauded off the court late in the fourth as the Heat closed out the careers of Yassine Ghomari, Ed Dane Medi, Landry Ndayitwayecko, and Mike Zayonc with a satisfying victory.

This group of departing players played in their last game as student athletes at UBC Okanagan read more about their careers and that of the other graduating player here.

James Lum, getting his fourth start of the season, led the Heat with 14 points as he orchestrated a patient UBC Okanagan offense. Finishing the season on a strong note and also getting his first career start was David Manshrek, he played a strong 22 minutes finishing with 12 points and a team high nine rebounds. Both David and James connected on a pair of threes in the contest.

Cameron Friesen found the old Thompson Rivers Gymnasium to his liking as he had the hot hand from outside, shooting 75% from long range (3-4), Cam, like Manshreck finished with 12 points. A long range threat his entire career for the Heat, Landry Ndayitwayeko, did not disappoint in his final game, scoring 10 points and connected on 2-4 from deep.

Another graduate, Yassine Ghomari struggled shooting (3-15) in his final game, but the consummate competitor will trade personal stats for a win every day, he still scored eight and held Canada West’s second leading scorer Ta’Quan Zimmerman to just 11 points.

The longest standing member of the Heat, Ed Dane Medi played in his 88th game for UBC Okanagan as he finishes his career, the most regular season games played in school history for men’s basketball.

Mike Zayonc, the final departing player, once again played 21 unheralded undersized minutes in the post for his final game as he finishes with five points, five rebounds, four fouls and numerous bruises from all the pounding he took keeping the WolfPack bigs out of sync as he battled 6-10 230-lb Josh Wolfram, 6-5 215-lb Gerard Gore, and 6-8 220-lb Tallon Milne.

The defense was the key to the victory as UBC Okanagan held Thompson Rivers to just 60 points, which is just over 20 off of their season average of 80.2 a game, and was the lowest total that the high flying WolfPack put up all season.

The only two TRU players in double figures were Tallon Milne who had the most points with 14, and was named the Pack player of the game, Ta’Quan Zimmerman had 11 points, while Gerard Gore had 11 rebounds to lead both teams.

Thompson Rivers finished the season with a 13-9 record, good enough for the third seed in the Pacific Division and well move on to play the No. 2 seed from the Prairie Division the Saskatchewan Huskies in Saskatoon beginning Friday (Feb 21) in a best of three.

For the second straight season UBC Okanagan head coach Pete Guarasci has his team compete hard right to the final game even though playoffs were not an option, and for the second straight year the Heat were able to win on the final day, both years besting TRU.

With the win the team’s final record stands at 4-18, and although four players and a lot of minutes are leaving the program performances today by the like of Lum, Manshrek and Ryan Linttell will have coach Guarasci seeing good things on the horizon. 

Prior to the game the Men’s and Women’s Presidents’ Cup was awarded for the first time in over a decade in a ceremony in which each universities President handed the other the Cup as TRU won the men’s Cup and UBC Okanagan captured the women’s. Read about the award here.

HEAT NOTES: Second year guard Mitch Godwin missed the TRU series with a leg injury. The men’s basketball team won in their final game in 2011-12, their first in Canada West over the WolfPack but that was under then head coach Darren Semeniuk, who is now an assistant with the women’s Heat team.

Source: Krista McKenna, StFX Sports Info

Antigonish, NS – The X-Men basketball team picked up four points in the AUS standings with a 77-72 victory over the Dalhousie Tigers Saturday evening at the Oland Centre.

StFX improves to 11-7 on the season, currently in third place, while the Tigers fall to 5-13, out of AUS playoff contention.

Led by freshman forward Kevin Bercy who had a double-double evening with 20 points and 12 rebounds, along with four steals, the X-Men held on for a close game down the stretch to bring home the victory.

Subway player of the game Jordan Clarke, a fifth year guard playing in his final AUS regular season home game, scored 16 points and seven rebounds and three assists. Fellow fifth year veteran Will Donkoh had 12 points, including a trio of three-point buckets, along with four rebounds and three steals.

Shane Coupland contributed 11 points for the X-Men. Both Donkoh and Clarke, along with fifth year forward Mat MacDonald were honored pre-game for their contributions to the X-Men program.

StFX held a 16-12 edge over the Tigers after the first quarter of play. Dalhousie pulled ahead early in the second quarter thanks to their three-point shooting. They led by as much as nine points, though the X-Men sealed the difference to three points at half time at 37-34 in favor of the Tigers.

The third quarter belonged to StFX's favor as they outscored the Tigers 30-19. Coupland's three pointer at the buzzer gave the X-Men a 63-56 advantage after 30 minutes of play.

The fourth quarter featured low scoring with slim exchanges of leads for the majority of play.

StFX held a 73-72 lead with two minutes to play. After neither team failed to score on two consecutive possessions, Jordan Clarke's jumper with 32 seconds left on the game clock gave the X-Men a three-point advantage.

They were able to hang on for the 77-72 final.

Jarred Reid paced the Tigers attack with 22 points, while John Traboulsi scored 13 and pulled in nine rebounds.

Simon Marr scored nine points and had 10 rebounds, with Ritchie Kanza Mata also scoring nine. Kanza Mata and Traboulski each contributed six assists apiece.

With one week remaining in AUS regular season play, the X-Men will hit the road for a pair of four-point games at UPEI and UNB. Game times are 8:00 pm on Feb. 21st and 22nd.

The X-Men have already clinched an AUS playoff spot though final seedings will be determined following weekend play.

Source: Andrea Elliott, Ryerson Sports Info
 
TORONTO – The Ryerson Rams men’s basketball team closed their regular season schedule with a 71-61 victory over the Queen’s Gaels on Saturday at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

Jahmal Jones (Mississauga, Ont.) had a team-high 22 points and eight rebounds while adding five assists to lead the Rams to the victory.

Both teams struggled to find their offensive groove in the first and after ten minutes the Gaels held a slim 13-12 lead.

Ryerson opened the second quarter on a 14-2 run to open up a 28-15 advantage with 4:10 remaining in the frame and extended that lead to 17 to lead 40-23 at the halftime break.

A pair of free throws from Jones with 8:35 left in the third gave the Rams their largest lead of the game at 45-25 but the Gaels turned up their defensive pressure and began to chip away at the deficit. Roshane Roberts (Vaughan, Ont.) put the Gaels on his back and helped close the gap to single digits with a jumper to make it 53-44 with 1:35 to go in the frame but Ryerson continued to lead 58-46 through three quarters.

Queen’s got to within six points on several occasions in the fourth quarter but they could not complete the comeback as the Rams came away with the 71-61 victory.

Aaron Best (Scarborough, Ont.) also finished in double digits for the Rams with ten points and added eight rebounds.

Roberts finished with a game-high 24 points in the loss for Queen’s while Nikola Misljencevic (Ottawa, Ont.) added 13 points.

Ryerson finishes the regular season with a 16-6 record to finish third in the OUA east standings. The Gaels finish with a record of 10-12 and sit in sixth place.

Queen’s will return to the Mattamy Athletic Centre on Wednesday, February 19 to face the Rams in the OUA quarter-final beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Source: Ottawa Sports Info

OTTAWA - The uOttawa Gee-Gees finished their regular season on a high note on Saturday night as they took a dominant 103-61 victory over Algoma University. The garnet and grey finish the season with 20 wins and only two losses while breaking a number of team records.

The win gives 20 wins on the season which is the new uOttawa record for wins in a season. The previous record was 19 win set by the 2008-2009 Gee-Gees squad. This stat is not the only record broken this season however as they have set highs in multiple categories such as free throw percentage, three-pointers made in a season, highest team scoring average and an individual stat for points in a season set by Johnny Berhanemeskel [see bottom of the page for full stats and details].

“It feels good. I have good kids and they work really hard so I am happy about this season. It’s a credit to our coaching staff and this team,” said James Derouin. “With that said, our regular season doesn’t mean anything if we don’t get things done next Saturday. We have to retain our focus and prepare for playoffs because that's when the real test begins.”

Terry Thomas was the high scorer in the game tallying 20 points and also provided fans with their dose of dunks in transition. Thomas has had a successful season with the Gee-Gees averaging 22.2 points per game and providing uOttawa with countless highlight real dunks. The third-year will likely be an essential piece if the Gee-Gees are to go deep into the post-season.

“It’s so rare that to see a team that is so close and tightly knit and I think that is part of our success. We have so much chemistry this year and overall it was a great season - there are two parts to a season though and the post-season is the most important one. We will need to be efficient, work hard and play through 40 minutes because that is the key to beating really good teams,” said Terry Thomas.

Despite their seventh place OUA standing, Algoma University put a good fight at certain points in the game and played well defensively against the no.2 uOttawa. 

Johnny Berhanemeskel needed 10 points in this game to become the uOttawa record holder for points scored in a season and he accomplished just that scoring 451 and moving passed Josh Gibson-Bascombe’s 443. “It’s definitely a cool accolade to be a part of because there has been so much work and effort put towards that. I try not to focus on that stuff too much but it’s a great feeling to be recognized for my efforts,” said Berhanemeskel.

Source: Hugh Mullally, Lakehead Sports Information Director

Thunder Bay, Ont. - The men's basketball team pulled out a 70-56 win over the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday evening, launching them into 4th place in the OUA West and thus securing home court for the 1st round of the playoffs.

Such a notion seemed inconceivable to many following a shaky month of January for the men's squad.

The first half of Saturday's matchup was slow to say the least, with Guelph clinging to a 24-21 lead at halftime.

Lakehead would finally get the lead out in the 3rd, scoring 24 points and finding different ways to score.

One Thunderwolf who did so in a big way was Alex Robichaud, who scored a career-high 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting, much to the delight of the Thunderdome faithful.

Dwayne Harvey put together another complete game, scoring 15 points with 8 assists and 5 rebounds.

5th year senior forward Justin Bell (Mississauga, Ont.) was honored pre-game with a plaque as part of senior's night presentations.

For Guelph, Michel Clark scored 12 points with 5 rebounds.

Coach Matt Erdman:

"Our offense left us early but our defense was what kept us in the game. It took us some time to figure it out on offense but credit to our guys for making a conscious effort to execute."

Lakehead will next face the Western Mustangs on Wednesday evening at 7pm in the Thunderdome in the 1st round of the playoffs.

Source: Matt Gutsch, Alberta Communications

EDMONTON - The No.3 ranked University of Alberta Golden Bears basketball team collected their ninth straight win as they defeated the No.10 ranked Saskatchewan Huskies 99-91 on Saturday night at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton.

Rookie forward Mamadou Gueye had a career high 21 points to the lead the Bears, including a pair of three-pointers, while Joel Friesen added 17 points and fifth-year guard Sahr Saffa chipped in with 15 points. Kenny Otieno had 13 points and Jordan Baker banked 11 points, while Friesen corralled a team high five rebounds to help Alberta past the tenth ranked Huskies.

With the win, Alberta finishes the year with a 20-2 record and on a five game winning streak. Alberta’s win on Friday night over Saskatchewan clinched first place overall for the Bears, and they will next be in action February 21-23 when they host the UBC Thunderbirds in a best-of-three quarterfinal series at the Saville Community Sports Centre.

Stephon Lamar led the Huskies in scoring, as the fourth-year guard from San Diego banked 24 points, including 12 free-throws, in the loss. Dadrian Collins, who led Saskatchewan in scoring on Friday night, added 22 points on Saturday, while Matt Forbes and Ben Baker scored 18 and 12 points respectively.

Saskatchewan closes out the regular season with a 15-7 record, but has lost four of their last seven games. They finish second in the Prairie Division and will host the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack next weekend in Saskatoon in a best-of-three quarterfinal series.

The Huskies out-rebounded Alberta 42-34, including 19 to 13 on the offensive glass, and were led by Forbes’ 11. Baker also had a double-double, as he hauled in 10 boards.

Alberta, however, was hotter shooting the ball, as they drained 52% of their shots from the field, including 11 three-pointers, while the Huskies hit just 40% from the field, including nine three balls. The Bears were red hot in the first half, when they drained 60% of their shots.

They torched Saskatchewan in the opening 10 minutes of the game, outscoring their guests 26-17, and never really looked back. Although the Huskies outscored the Bears by two in the second quarter, Alberta went into half-time with a 55-48 lead.

The two teams were neck and neck throughout the second half, with no more than a four points separating them, which suited the Bears just fine as they could just trade buckets with the Huskies and maintain their seven point advantage.

After picking up 21 points in the third, to Saskatchewan’s 20, the Bears added 23 more in the fourth quarter, matching the Huskies’ output, to win the game 99-91.

The Bears will next host the UBC Thunderbirds in a best-of-three quarterfinal series, beginning on February 21 at 7:00 pm.

Source: Shannon Pitt, UBC Sports Information Assistant

VANCOUVER - Despite an energetic, competitive first quarter of play, the UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball was unable to overcome the Victoria Vikes for the second time this weekend and the Vikes clinched a sweep of the home-and-home series with an 89-73 win Saturday night in War Memorial Gymnasium.
 
Brylle Kamen recorded a remarkable 18 rebounds and 21 points to lead the Thunderbirds, while both Tommy Nixon and Andrew McGuinness contributed 14 points each for UBC. Vikes’ forward Terrell Evans shot 100 per cent from beyond the arc (3-for-3) and tallied a game-high 24 points. Chris McLaughlin and Marcus Tibbs also contributed 14 points apiece.
 
Victoria broke the game open with a 13-2 second quarter run. Michael Steele's layup with 5:56 to go before halftime gave UBC a 27-26 lead but Kyle Peterson immediately replied with a three-point basket. After McGuinness scored for the home team, McLaughlin, Evans and Ryan Erikson all scored inside before John Woldu capped off the run with a triple that put Victoria ahead 39-29, and allowed the Vikes to take an 11-point advantage into the half. The ‘Birds struggled with turnovers, tallying nine in the second quarter alone.

The Vikes continued to build on their lead in the third quarter, as the T-Birds were down to eight healthy players with Jordan Jensen-Whyte out of the game due to injury. Halfway through the period, Evans nailed a three-point basket and then stole on the next possession and went in for a slam dunk to put his team ahead by 16 points.

Kedar Wright and Kamen combined for seven straight points after that to cut the UBC deficit to nine but were unable to extend that momentum any further.

UBC saw early fortune, going up 17-9 in the first quarter on a Bret Macdonald layup. The teams battled back and forth and the Thunderbird defence was effective in shutting down the Vikes’ outside shooting, which was a major component of Victoria’s success Friday night. But an 8-0 run that bridged the first and second quarters got the Vikes on even terms within the first couple of minutes.

The Thunderbirds will end the regular season with a record of 11-11, good enough for fourth in the Pacific Division while the Vikes finish first at 19-3.
 
Canada West post-season play begins next weekend with the quarter-final round.

UBC will travel to Edmonton to face the Prairie Division's top team, the Alberta Golden Bears. The games will be played Friday and Saturday at 6 p.m. PT, with a third match, if necessary, at 3 p.m on Sunday. This will be the third straight season the two schools will meet in the quarter-finals. The Vikes will host the Winnipeg Wesmen.

Source: Paul Esau, UFV Sports Info

Abbotsford – The UFV Cascades men’s basketball team (17-5) extracted another win from the TWU Spartans (10-12) tonight by a score of 83-78. The Cascades have now won 14 straight since the run began on November 29, 2013, taking a season that started as a mediocre 3-5 and turning it into something special. UFV will face the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns in next week’s Canada West quarterfinals. The Spartans are not in playoff contention.

A remarkable game from the first play, tonight’s contest felt more like a post-season battle than an exercise between two teams with their playoff futures already decided. The Spartans outrebounded the Cascades by an astonishing 42-30 with the margin and more provided by TWU’s Denny McDonald (30 points and 14 rebounds). It was a brutal, physical game, as evidenced by the 42 personal fouls shared almost evenly between the two teams.

The Cascades two departing seniors, Klaus Figueredo and Jasper Moedt, were honoured in a ceremony before the game. Coach Adam Friesen further showed his appreciation (and perhaps the imminence of playoffs) by giving the two Cascade stalwarts much of the night off ­– Figueredo played only 26 minutes while Moedt was given a luxurious 17. The resulting gap was filled by rookie forward Hudson Simon (two blocks, four rebounds) and sophomore Gurminder Kang (one block, three rebounds), who played the end of the third and most of the fourth quarters.

With UFV’s usual point-producers on the bench, and TWU twisting the screws with a ferocious full-court press, other Cascades rose to the occasion. Aaron McGowan went 3-3 from downtown on his way to 15 points, while Amrit Gill had 12 points, tying a personal high from that same Nov. 29 game against the UBC Thunderbirds that began the Cascades’ run.

Apart from McDonald, the Spartans received 18 points from Justin Bakuteka and 13 from Anthony Ottley. The Spartans managed 19 assists to the Cascades’ 24, and trailed by only a single point in the fourth minute of the fourth quarter. Indeed, without the Cascades 44.4 three-point percentage (compared to the Spartan’s 9.5 percent from the same range), TWU would very likely have grabbed the win and achieved an even .500 record on the season.

“Some people have questioned our depth this year,” said Cascades assistant coach Kyle Graves, “considering the minutes our starters play, but the whole team contributed to this win and it’s just a great way to finish off the regular season. Fourteen straight wins is a tough thing to accomplish and now we’re on our way to bigger and better things in the playoffs.”

The Cascades begin a best-of-three playoff series this Thursday (Feb 20) against the Lethbridge Pronghorns at the Envision Athletic Centre. Tipoff will be at 7 pm, and games will continue at the same time on Friday and Saturday as needed. Watch the game online at canadawest.tv