KINGSTON, Ont. – The Ontario Tech University men's basketball team fell 97-71 to the Queen's Gaels on Friday night to end the first half of their inaugural season.
Ontario Tech opened their first season in the OUA on the road against the Laurentian Voyageurs, with their first home game on November 3 against the Gaels, losing 83-61 in their first meeting.
Although the Ridgebacks haven't won a game yet, the coaching staff look at the opening semester with a lot of positives.
"When we watch tape and the pressure is gone we look at it and we want to be coaching these guys," said head coach
Greg Francis. "We have the best young players in the league, it's just we depend too much on them to do too much. It's what happens when you're in competitive situations, but when you take a breath and just focus on getting better, they're a great group to coach.
The Ridgebacks will now be off until January 8 when they host the Guelph Gryphons.
"My job as a coach is to keep these guys focused on getting better and to have some confidence. Even though we haven't played winning basketball in the first half of the season, I think in the second half we can play some winning basketball, get some confidence and keep our program going the right way."
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Graddy Kanku (Ottawa, Ont.) had a team-high 27 points for the Ridgebacks.
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Matthew Bardoel (Tecumseh, Ont.) finished with a season-high 11 off the bench for Ontario Tech.
• Cole Syllas caused the most trouble as he dropped a game-high 31 for Queen's.
• Quinton Gray had the lone double-double of the night pulling in 12 boards for the Gaels alongside 16 points.
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Chris Ogie (Morinville, Alta.) and Cole Syllas led their teams with two blocks apiece.
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Graddy Kanku,
Ammar Hassan (London, Ont.) and
Matthew Bardoel each had five rebounds to lead the Ridgebacks.
Overall Record: 0-15
Conference Record: 0-10
Next Game: Wednesday, Jan. 8 vs. Guelph Gryphons (8 p.m. – CRWC)
