Stay tuned to this site throughout the night for up-to-the-minute scores and game reviews.
AUS
Memorial (4-11, 8 pts.) 73 at Saint Mary's (7-7, 20 pts.) 83 Second-year guard Mark McLaughlin (pictured) had a game-high 26 points on 10-18 shooting to lead the Huskies to closer to clinching a playoff spot. SMU now has 20 pts. in fifth place in the AUS while 7th place MUN must win all their remaining 5 games to get to 22 pts. The Huskies, playing without star forward Aaron Duncan again, rode their five starters hard (starters played all except 13 minutes) and got double digit performances from each of them including 17 from 6'5" Clint Bateman, 13 points and 13 rebounds from center Ikeobi Uchegbu, 13 from Mark Ross and 10 from Mike Poole, who also grabbed 5 off the offensive glass, part of 12 "o" boards overall for St. Mary's. Fifth-year swingman Justin Halleran had 25 points for the Seahawks including 4-5 from 3 point land. MUN goes across town tomorrow to meet Dal while St. Mary's hosts Dal next Thursday night at the Tower.QSSF
Laval (7-5) 69 at Bishop's (4-9) 58 The Rouge et Or welcomed a beat up J.P. Morin (pictured) back to their lineup and the All-Canadian came up with another star effort, scoring 23 points and adding a game-high 14 rebounds as Laval took control of second place in the "Q" with a road win in Lennoxville. The "Q's" leading scorer, freshman Jean-François Beaulieu-Maheux also had 23 for Laval and continues to make a strong case for CIS Freshman-of-the-Year.
#2 Concordia (11-1) 76 at McGill (5-8) 61 The Stingers jumped out to leads of 12-2 and 24-10 and then used a 16-2 run off the start of the second half to comfortably defeat the Redmen. Concordia's 6'3" Dwayne Buckley (pictured) dominated at both ends of the floor, helping to force McGill freshman Matt Thornhill into 10 turnovers and holding him scoreless until 4 minutes remained and the game was well in hand. Buckley also had 6 steals and hammered home 4 dunks as part of his 18 point effort. 6'4" Patrick Perrotte led Concordia with 21 points. McGill had a mini run late in the first half to cut the deficit to 34-24 by halftime but the Buckley brothers took the game over early in the half, allowing the Stingers to use their entire bench for extended periods of the game. McGill, which has lost 5 in a row, has what has to be considered a must-win tomorrow night in Montreal at UQAM, a team they defeated by 9 points in January. The Stingers are off until next Friday and Saturday when they host Laval and Bishop's. OUA East
Ryerson (6-13) 53 at Laurentian (6-13) 71 Putting on a dominating second-half performance defensively, the Voyageurs took over possession of the final playoff spot in the East with a convincing win at home, holding the Rams to only 7 points in the last 12 minutes and 17 points overall after the intermission. Down 4 at 46-42 with 12 minutes remaining, the Voyageurs went small and found the right matchups on Ryerson's big guys, spreading the floor successfully to outscore Ryerson 29-7 the rest of the way. Laurentian, which went 27-31 from the foul line (87.1%), held Ryerson's leading scorer, freshman Boris Bakovic, to only 11 points and 10 rebounds after he had scorched the Vees for 28 last time in Toronto by continually running double teams at him and making others beat them. Brody Bishop had 23 points in the win as Laurentian held Ryerson to 34% shooting and outrebounded the taller, longer Rams 40-29 as an season-long nemesis, giving up second chances, hurt Ryerson again (Vees had 12 "o" boards). Ryerson also hurt themselves at the free throw line, going only 15 for 28 (53.6%). The Vees and Ryerson are now tied in sixth place however Laurentian owns the tiebreaker. Toronto visit Laurentian tomorrow night while Ryerson travels back south to face York at Tait MacKenzie.
Toronto (12-7) 82 at York (12-7) 70 Coming back from a late 7 point deficit, the Blues jumped into third place in the East with a solid win on the road at York, U of T's first win at Tait MacKenzie in many years in front of an excellent crowd. 6'3" fifth-year senior Ben Katz (pictured), who has had numerous strong games against York, had another monster effort with a game-high 26 points while helping hold Lions Rohan Steen to 3-15 shooting. Toronto, up 2 at halftime, used a 13-5 run to grab a 56-47 lead early in the second half but the Lions, led by OUA East leading scorere Dan Eves (25 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists) got the crowd into it and outscored the Blues by 15 in one stretch to lead by 7 with about 7 minutes remaining. But Katz and 6'10" Mike Williams (16 points, 6 boards) helped lock down the Lions and the Blues used a 34-23 edge on the glass to claim the big win. The Blues did another tremendous job defensively holding Lions guard tandem of Steen and 6'3" Tut Ruach to 9-29 shooting as Toronto's Dwayne Grant kept Ruach in check. Toronto also limited 6'10" Jordan Foebel to only 6 shots all night and 9 points overall. The Lions shot only 41.2% from the floor and 5-19 from 3. York welcomes Ryerson tomorrow night while Toronto travels to Sudbury to face Laurentian.
#3 Carleton (17-2) 74 at Queen's (10-8) 55 The Ravens went up 20-5 in the first five minutes against a Queen's 1-2-2 zone, showering Bartlett Gym with three pointers and held the normally hot-shooting Gaels to 3-18 shooting from beyond the arc to virtually clinch first place in the OUA East before 1,000 fans in Kingston. The Gaels were able to cut the lead down to just six by halftime at 37-31 and got it to 4 at 45-41 early but a 22-2 run midway through the second half put Carleton in control. 6'2" Osvaldo Jeanty (pictured) had 19 points including 5-10 from 3 while 6'4" Ryan Bell broke out of a shooting slump with 14 points including 4-8 from 3, part of a 15 for 38 effort by the Ravens from downtown. Carleton shot more than two-thirds of their field goal attempts from beyond the arc overall. Ever-improving guard Ryan Hairsine led Queen's with 17 points while Simon Mitchell had 12 points/5 rebounds, who played without freshman guard Baris Ondul, a late scratch with a hamstring injury. Carleton held Queen's to 38.3% shooting overall, forced 16 Gael turnovers and limited freshman Mitch Leger to 7 points and 2 rebounds. Carleton should officially clinch first place overall tomorrow night at RMC while Queen's faces the Ottawa Gee-Gees.#10 Ottawa (16-4) 89 at RMC (1-17) 56 6'3" sophomore Donnie Gibson went 6 of 9 from three point land in his return to native Kingston as the Gee-Gees clinched second place in the OUA East win a victory at RMC. Gibson, a prolific scorer in high school, notched his career-high of 21 points while another sophomore Willy Manigat added 11 on 3-6 shooting from downtown. Ottawa forced 19 Paladins turnovers to win going away. Alex McLeod added 12 for Ottawa, Curtis Shakespeare had 10 points/5 rebounds while Josh Gibson-Bascombe had a tidy 9 point, 4 rebound, 6 assist effort on 4-5 shooting from the floor. The Gee-Gees face Queen's at the Bartlett Gym across town in Kingston tomorrow night.
OUA EAST STANDINGS including tonight's games
* Carleton 18-2
* Ottawa 16-4
$ Toronto 12-7
$ York 12-7
$ Queen's 10-9
Laurentian 6-13
Ryerson 6-13
RMC 1-19
* clinched first round playoff byes
$ clinched playoff spot
OUA West
8 PM Lakehead (1-18) 61 at Guelph (9-9) 68 Up 18 with 8 minutes to play, the Gryphs withstood a strong Thunderwolves come back that got it as close as 6 late but Guelph hung on to get back to .500 and officially clinch a playoff spot. The Gryphons played without 6'10" J.R. Bailey and 6'4" Jay Mott, who will both miss the weekend games with ankle injuries and were forced into playing a lot of zone, which confused Lakehead until late. 6'3" Aron Bariagbre was the offensive catalyst for Guelph going 6-8 from 3 as part of his game-high 24 points on 8-11 shooting overall. 6'3" point guard Nick Pankerichan had a solid line of 12 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Warren Thomas led Lakehead with 16 points, with almost everything coming in the second half against the zone late in the game. The teams meet again tomorrow night
Canada West
Manitoba (7-14) 76 at Regina (8-13) 79 The Cougars officially clinched a playoff spot in the Great Plains conference by edging the Bisons at home. Jeff Lukomski 3's gave the Cougars an 8 point lead with 4:12 remaining but Manitoba got it back to one on a jumper by Grahame Mitchell with 1:10 to play. After a pair of turnovers, Regina's Brad Fekula hit a clutch jumper with 13 seconds to play to restore a three point lead and the Cougars fouled immediately. Issac Ansah made 1-2 f.t. with 12 seconds left and the Cougars ran out the clock the rest of the way for the win. Drew Kuzimski led Regina with 29 while Darcy Coss had 21 for the Bisons. According to my late-night interpretation of the Canada West tie-breaker rules as described in Nate Schnellenberg's email, Regina holds the edge by virtue of a 1-1 record against the #1 seeds of the other 2 divisions as they defeated Alberta before Christmas while Winnipeg is 0-2. The two teams are tied in all other scenarios. Wins by Regina and Brandon tomorrow night will apparently give the Cougars home court advantage in the Best-of-3 Great Plains division semi-final series beginning next week.
10PM Eastern/8 PM local Saskatchewan (12-8) at Calgary (10-10)
10:15 PM Eastern/8:15 PM local Alberta (13-7) at Lethbridge (6-14)
11PM Eastern/8 PM local UCFV (6-15) at #4 Victoria (18-3)
11PM Eastern/8 PM local Thompson Rivers (1-20) at #5 UBC (18-3) CiTR 101.9
Another renewal of the Smart brothers rivalry, tonight in Kingston (thanks to Neate Sager from Out of Left Field for sending along this link). The Gaels will have 6'7" star freshman Mitch Leger in the lineup for this encounter after Leger missed the last meeting in Ottawa between the two teams. Carleton can clinch first place in the OUA East with a win tonight and then again tomorrow at RMC. Gaels Look to Upend #3 Carleton
Thanks to Nathan Schellenberg, Saskatchewan Huskies assistant coach for explaining the Canada West tie breakers in an email (see below). The Huskies have officially clinched second place and if they remain in second will host the Calgary Dinos even if the Dinos sweep Saskatchewan this weekend (the Huskies have the better record within the division in games involving only Central division teams). The Huskies still have a mathematical chance to catch Alberta but need to sweep the weekend and have Lethbridge sweep the Golden Bears. If Saskatchewan and Alberta end up tied, the Huskies will hold the tie-breaker with a better record vs. #1 seeds in other two divisions.
The Canada West tie-breakers were changed three years ago from the controversial points for/point against in head-to-head games. Here are the current Canada West tiebreaker procedures
CANADA WEST BASKETBALL TIE-BREAKING PROCEDURES (Prioritized)
NOTE: CW league game only to be considered for tie-breaking procedures
Two Teams
1) Head-to-head competition
2) Division won-loss percentage
3) Won-loss record of the two teams versus the #1 seeds in the other two divisions combined (and proceeding through the #2 seeds if necessary).
4) Points difference in head-to-head competition.
5) Points difference in division games.
6) Points difference in all conference games.
7) Coin-flip by conference president.
Three or More teams
Same procedures as two team tie. Once one team has been eliminated, go back to step one with the remaining teams.
Cape Breton Head Coach Jim Charters was kind enough to share his view of the remaining games in Atlantic Canada including a novel approach to figuring out how the seedings for the AUS tournament could unravel. Given the large number of four point games still remaining, Charters "charts" the AUS standings and possibilities by including "Total Points Still Available" and "Total Possible Points". Taking a look at Coach Charters approach, although X appears to be far out of the race for second or even first place, a closer look reveals that both X and Acadia have 44 total possible points remaining (that is, if each win out, they would end up with 44 points). So, St. FX is not as far out of the playoff picture as we would have led you to believe earlier this week. Leave it to a Caper to make things clear and simple :) Thanks, Coach!AUS STANDINGS BASED ON MAXIMUM POINTS AVAILABLE including SMU/MEM tonight
CBU 32 pts; 3 4 pt. games left; 18 pts. available; max. 50 pts. total
ACA 32 pts; 1 4 pt. game left; 12 pts. available; max. 44 pts. total
SFX 24 pts; 3 4 pt. games left; 20 pts. available; max. 44 pts. total
PEI 24 pts; 1 4 pt. game left; 14 pts. available; max. 38 pts. total
SMU 20 pts; 2 4 pt. games left; 16 pts. available; max. 36 pts. total
DAL 14 pts. 2 4 pt. games left; 14 pts. available; max. 28 pts. total
MUN 8 pts; 2 4 pt. games left; 14 pts. available; max. 22 pts. total
UNB 8 pts; 2 4 pt. games left; 12 pts. available; max. 20 pts. total
End of an era in Halifax high school basketball as Queen Elisabeth Park and St. Patrick's, bitter rivals over the years, merge into a single school End of an era as bitter rivals to merge
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