CIS Hoops.ca

Before we get to this evening's (last night's) scores and reports, a note from fellow blogger Neate Sager, another advocate of more information communication for CIS basketball, on a recent National Post article by Mark Spector. Unfortunately, Mark was basically accurate in his assessment of things but now that the problem has been identified, it's up to those of us passionate about the game to do something about it.

"Thanks for linking to that Mark Spector column. I e-mailed him to make the point that he kind of overlooked the fledging CIS blog culture, citing your blog and a couple other sites. I adapted it into a blog post... my basic argument is that if we want better coverage, we're likely gonna have to do it ourselves. The CIS audience is fringy, it's educated and web-savvy (since it's mostly among students and alums), so maybe that's where the coverage should head." Needless to say, I agree wholeheartedly with Neate, thank him for the kind words and plug and encourage everyone to bookmark/read his very well-done blog Neate responds to Mark Spector


CIS Results for Friday, January 5th, 2007

AUS
Acadia (4-3) 64, Saint Mary's (3-3) 54: The Axemen continued their strong play since late October, coming up with a huge 10 point win at St. Mary's in front of 900 fans at the Tower. 6'4" Luckern Dieu from Montreal (Dawson College) was the difference tonight, scoring 26 points (12-18 shooting) and adding 10 rebounds. The Axemen held Huskies' star Aaron Duncan to only 10 points on 4-15 shooting and St.Mary's shot only 32.9% as a team. Acadia dominance on the glass was also a huge factor as the Axemen outrebounded the Huskies 50-27 with 6'8" Achuil Lual (Ottawa - Algonquin College; 10 points/10 boards) and 6'0" Paolo Santana (10 points/14 boards) joining Dieu with double/doubles. Acadia freshman point guard Andrew Kraus had a solid 7 point, 6 rebound, 6 assist evening in 37 minutes running the show for the Axemen. Acadia's big 4 point win moves them closer to the top in their division Acadia at St.Mary's box score

QSSF
#6 Concordia 70 at Laval 68 6'3" Ben Sormonte's off-balance three with 20 seconds remaining in the game broke a 66-66 tie as the Stingers claimed a huge road win in front of 2,000 fans at PEPS in Laval. In a game with tremendous energy and a playoff-like atmosphere, the teams went back and forth with numerous second-half lead changes until Sormonte, a fifth-year swingman from France, got free. Laval had leads of as much as 10 early on but Concordia (6-0 in QSSF) used their athleticism to create 20 Rouge et Or turnovers and drew even at 38-38 by halftime. Laval's J.P. Morin was back in action and finished with a relatively-quiet 19 point/11 rebound double/double while freshman J.F. Maheux added 13 for Laval (3-3) now 3 games behind the Stingers in the standings. Sormonte had 16 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals for Concordia while another fifth-year veteran Patrick Perrotte added 16. Concordia has a quick turnaround game tomorrow in Montreal against McGill while Laval waits until next week for its next action also against McGill.

Bishop's (1-5) 51 at UQAM (1-5) 68 The Citadins claimed their first league win with a comfortable victory over Bishop's. Bishop's UQAM summary

OUA East
Toronto (4-5) 56 at #1 Carleton (9-0) 59 Storming back from a 16 point deficit midway through the second half, the Ravens held off the well-prepared Varsity Blues in front of 1,000 fans at the Raven's Nest. Aaron Doornekamp had 10 of his 16 points in the second half as Carleton rode a 25-8 run over a 10 minute stretch in the second half to their first lead of the game on a tip-in by Sheldon Stewart and then regained the lead for good at 51-50 with 6:34 to play as Doornekamp went 1 for 2 at the line. Toronto's Ben Katz had a tough look at a 3 with 2 seconds remaining that just front rimmed, sealing the Blues fate. Toronto used their hand-off and high/low game to get numerous inside looks for 6'9" Mike Williams (16 points but only 4 in the second half) and when Williams went to the line for two shots with 17 minutes remaining and the Blues up 16, it looked like an upset in the making. But Williams (4 of 10 from the line, part of a 9-20 effort overall by Toronto) missed both free throws, the Blues lost their composure on a couple of ill-advised fouls in the front court and the 4-time defending champions took that opportunity to get back in the game with Ozvaldo Jeanty (15 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists on only 4-17 shooting including 2-11 from 3) and Doornekamp leading the way. Still with Toronto up 6 at 47-41, the Blues had a chance to break things open as Williams drove the lane on a 2 on 1 with Doornekamp standing in under the basket. The ensuing charge call against Williams was his fourth foul and probably the game's turning point. Williams ended up fouling out with 6:35 to play and the score tied at 50 preceeding Doornekamp's lead-providing free throw. Credit Carleton for being resilient despite not shooting the ball very well again until it mattered but at a key point in the game, the Blues went away from Williams inside and it cost them a chance at an upset over the defending national champs. Jean Emmanuel Jean-Marie added 10 for Carleton including 8 down the stretch when it counted while Katz had 12 pts/7 rb for Toronto. The Blues got strong performances from a pair of sophomores as dependable 6'8" Nick Snow had 8 points and 4 rebounds while 6'2" guard Nick Magalas added 8 points and 6 rebounds - both were the only Blues to score during the big Carleton run that brought the game back. Carleton/Toronto summary

Laurentian (3-6) 71 at RMC (1-8) 56 In a relatively-uneventful game, the Vees jumped out to a 25 point lead and then coasted to the easy win at RMC. Alex Whiteman led 5 Voyageurs in double figures with 14 points and added 4 boards while U.S. import Jason Brown added 12 points/5 rebounds. Laurentian moves over to face Queen's tomorrow night while the Paladins host York.

York (6-3) 66 at Queen's (6-3) 73 The Gaels came up with a huge home victory by running their patented West Virginia high post offence to perfection and holding the Lions big guys in check to move into a tie for third with York. Freshman Mitch Leger continued his great play with a 22 point/6 rebound effort while another underrated freshman Baris Ondul added 18 points and did a stellar job defending York's guards, including Tut Ruach (7 points) who returned to play 33 minutes but went only 2-11 from the floor. The Lions jumped out to an early lead as 6'8" Dan Eves (23 points, 8 rebounds) knocked down 3 early 3's but the Gaels recovered by making life miserable inside for 6'10" Jordan Foebel (3 points in 18 minutes) and limiting York to one-and-done (Queen's outrebounded the bigger Lions by 9 in the first half). At halftime, Queen's led 37-32. After halftime, the Gaels were able to stretch their lead and with Foebel on the bench both with fouls and an inability to matchup defensively on the perimeter, threatened to pull away. However, the Lions, led by Amde Evans (14 points, 10 rebounds including 5 offensive) stayed in the game with second-chance putbacks. York's Rohan Steen, guarded primarily by 6'3" Simon Mitchell, was held to 5-15 shooting and finished with 13 points while backup point guard Elyon Zemer, a starter when Ruach was unavailable for the first half, played only 5 minutes and made a three. Queen's York summary

Ryerson (3-6) 78 at #5 Ottawa (8-1) 86 After jumping out to a 20 point lead early in the second half, the Gee-Gees struggled with their mental focus and the outstanding inside play of Ryerson's 6'7" freshman Boris Bakovic, but held off the Rams at Montpetit Hall. Ottawa was able to get off early using their turnover-creating "d", solid shot selection and another sterling effort from 6'4" sophomore point guard Josh Gibson-Bascombe (23 points, 5 rebounds). However, Bakovic had his way in and around the paint with Ottawa's forwards, scorching the Gee-Gees for a game and career-high 33 points while adding 14 boards and 5 assists. The Gee-Gees created 18 turnovers, had 15 offensive rebounds (becoming a recurring problem for Rye) and went 29 for 35 from the line (82.9%) to secure the shaky win over an improving Ryerson team with a big time player. The Gee-Gees led 49-33 at the half. Ottawa Ryerson summary

OUA West
Lakehead (0-9) 67 at Waterloo (4-5) 81 Lakehead Waterloo summary

Canada West
Lethbridge (3-8) 83 at Saskatchewan (7-4) 96 All-Canadian forward Andrew Spagrud exploded for a CIS season-high 41 points on 15-18 shooting and added 11 rebounds as the Huskies moved 4 games ahead of the Pronghorns for second place in Canada West Central. The proper box score (not CIS web site summary) complete with play-by-play can be found here . As well, visit HuskieHoops.com , a tremendously well-run and well-kept site for loads of information including game notes and summaries. This is one of the best sites in the CIS and is run by Huskies assistant coach Nathan Schellenberg.

Alberta (8-3) 90 at Calgary (3-8) 82: Bears fifth-year forward Scott Gordon went off for 29 points while steady point guard Tyson Jones had a solid 5 point, 6 assist, 6 rebound effort in 33 minutes as Alberta rode an 11 point halftime lead to victory to remain one game ahead of Saskatchewan in Canada West central. Game Summary

11 PM Trinity Western at #4 Victoria
11 PM Regina 107 at Thompson Rivers 87
11 PM Simon Fraser at #2 UBC
11 PM #9 Brandon at UCFV