CIS Hoops.ca

In games this evening, the NCAA teams continued to dominate. However, the York Lions gave CIS teams their first victory of the weekend (1-15).

York 80, Morehead State 79 6'3" Tut Ruach knocked down a jumper with 3.4 seconds remaining in the game to lift the Lions to victory, finally giving the CIS a victory in this weekend's games. The Lions, playing in front of a boisterous packed house, made a dramatic rally from a 22 point second half deficit as Ruach ended the game with 26 points, putting his team on his shoulders when they needed it most. Earlier Morehead State’s Maze Stallworth missed a pair of free throws that would have given the Eagles a three-point lead. Eagles Coach Donnie Tyndall was impressed with Ruach but was disappointed in his team's inability to take care of the ball: "The bottom line in the York game was that we just turned the ball over too many times. Maybe fatigue sat in a little bit, since it was our second game of the day. But, they have a nice team, and Ruach kept them in the game early, led their comeback, then hit the game-winning shot. They had a very enthusiastic crowd that got into the game and made it a very good environment to play in." York hosts LSU tomorrow at 3 PM while Morehead State meets the U of T Varsity Blues tomorrow at 7 PM Game report from York web site

Creighton 85, Calgary 77 The Dinos kept it close for much of the first half, leading 21-18 after the first quarter of this game played using FIBA rules but then fell behind by 11 at halftime. In front of 1,400 fans, the game had great atmosphere as Calgary rolled players in and out, with 10 players logging at least 11 minutes but an inability to take care of the balls (Dinos had 28 turnovers) allowed Creighton to maintain a double digit lead until very late in the fourth quarter. 6'4" shooting guard Cody Darauh had 14 to lead Calgary while Ross Bekkering added 13 and Henry Bekkering 12. Prized recruit Jeff Price, a transfer from Mount Royal College where he was a CCAA All-Canadian, had 11 points on 3-3 shooting as he attempts to evolve into a point guard from his usual off guard game. The Bluejays kept the pressure up the entire game and were led by 6'8" Dane Watts, a senior post player, who had 21 points. Creighton plays Lethbridge and Saskatchewan again tomorrow while Calgary meets Weber State.

Air Force 67, Simon Fraser 60 Shawn Burke led a late Clan charge to bring the game back to within five at 60-55 but Air Force stretched it out to 67-57 before the Clan hit a buzzer-beating 3.

Alabama 104, Ottawa 80 The Gee-Gees had the game down to 12 with about 10 minutes to go when the Tide hit a long 3 with less than a second left on the shot clock (NCAA rules), which was a back-breaker leading to the 24 point win. Ottawa, playing without starting wing 6'3" Sean Peter who sustained a charley horse this morning vs. Illinois, was within single digits late in the first half when 6'4" Josh Gibson-Bascombe picked up his third foul. Alabama then went on a run to lead by 16 at halftime. The ultra-athletic Alabama team had 3 players with at least 20 points, led by 6'8" junior center Richard Hendrix (27 points/11 boards), who observers felt has an NBA future, 6'6" senior forward Mykal Riley (24 points/10 rebounds) and 6'2" freshman guard Senario Hillman with 20 points. The Tide shot a blistering 55% from the floor including 11-22 from beyond the arc and outrebounded Ottawa 39-28. 6'2" third-year wing Donnie Gibson had 18 for Ottawa while Gibson-Bascombe finished with 17 points. 6'0" freshman Vlad Pislaru finished with 12 points. In a foul-plagued game, the Gee-Gees were 27 for 40 from the line while Alabama made 17 of their 18 free throws.

Villanova 61, Carleton 46 Despite a herculian 30 point effort from 6'7" Aaron Doornekamp and a late run to cut the lead to 4, the Carleton Ravens lost their second consecutive game this weekend vs. an NCAA opponent, to the Wildcats, one of the better teams in the Big East. In a game that was described as "choppy", the Ravens had an uncharacteristic 17 turnovers and shot just 28% for the game. Doornekamp had 17 first-half points after which Villanova double and triple teamed him and his Raven teammates could not make them pay, missing several looks from the perimeter. The game was plagued by 45 foul calls including 23 of the first 34 calls against the home-town Ravens. Carleton had their hands full with Villanova's large, long front line as Doornekamp, 6'7" Kevin McCleery and 6'3" freshman Elliot Thompson all fouled out for Carleton. Villanova faces the Ottawa Gee-Gees tomorrow night while Carleton welcomes Alabama on Sunday night.

LSU 92, Guelph 60 The undermanned Gryphs stayed with the powerful Tigers for the first half, being down only 39-33 and later brought it down to 3 early in the second half but quickly ran out of gas to lose big in front of about 1,000 fans. Guelph lost 6'4" guard Nick Pankerichan to a suspected concussion about 8 minutes into the game and played without 6'9" J.R. Bailey (completing summer school commitments), 6'4" Jonathan Moscatelli (swelling in his knee; will be held back until October) and 6'7" Luke Nevar (shoulder). The Gryphs array of freshmen played very well as down 13 midway through the second half, Guelph had 5 freshmen on the floor who brought the game back to 6. 6'4" Borko Popic led Guelph with 11 points while among the freshmen who gave solid efforts were 6'1" point guards Mike Patrella and Omar Ibrahim plus 6'3" Jimmy Seymour. Solid 6'4" shooting guard Marcus Thornton had 30 points for LSU to lead all scorers.

Weber State 97, Lethbridge 31 in Calgary Not much to say about this one as the Horns score only 7 points in the second half after being down 49-24 at halftime. Lethbridge was without 5'9" guard Alan Kadema, a probable starter who was out with an injury and was also missing 6'4" Brandon James, one of their key recruits from Ontario high school champions Pickering Trojans. 7'0" Remmington Stemmler brought probably the only positive news for Horns with some decent play in spurts.