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Western 65, Queen's 63 6'6" Brad Smith knocked in an 8 footer with 5 seconds remaining to lift the Mustangs over the Gaels, who came all the way back from a 12 point third quarter deficit to actually take the lead late but could not hold on for the win in the first round of the Dearmon tournament in Toronto at Ryerson University. Queen's had an opportunity to win the game at the buzzer but 6'6" Travis Mitchell had the ball knocked out of bounds after a coast-to-coast drive into the paint and the game ended. Earlier, the freshman Mitchell (14 points including 12 in the second half) dropped in a pair of late 3's with about 3 minutes remaining to help bring the Gaels back. 6'1" Matt Curtis led all scorers with 16 points for Western in a solid defensive battle while Smith added 14 and 6'6" freshman Garrett Olixuik finished with 6 points and 6 boards. Queen's, which took only 17 3's on the afternoon, well below their season average, got 14 points from 6'5" sophomore Mitch Leger, who battled 6'9" Colin Laforme all afternoon. Western meets York, which upset Laval after playing a zone the entire game, in one semi-final tomorrow at the Dearmon tournament.

#4 Calgary 79, #2 Acadia 69 The Dinos jumped out to a 33-13 lead early in the second quarter, led by 20 at 70-50 with about 6 minutes left in the game and coasted to an easy win against the Axemen. Courtesy of Wayne Thomas... The 7th ranked Calgary Dinos out-rebounded, out-shot, and out-played the #2 Acadia Axemen in chalking up a 79-69 win in the first game of the MTS Classic at the University of Winnipeg Friday. The Dinos dominated the game and were up by 22 at one point in the second half, led by a sparkling effort from point guard Jeff Price, who dealt out 11 assists against only 1 turnover, and notched 14 pts. of his own. Henry Bekkering was the high scorer with 20, and he also grabbed 8 boards, while Robbie Sihota had 16 pts. and 9 rebounds, and Ross Bekkering contributed 15 pts. and 9 boards in only 21 minutes. Calgary had 38 rebounds to 34 for the Axemen, from Wolfeville, Nova Scotia, who were last year's Atlantic Champions. Acadia was led by Leonel Saintil, who netted 19 points and had 7 rebounds. Josh Lovestone and Tyler Fidler were impressive off the bench for the Dinos, with Fidler snaring 5 rebounds and Lovestone playing strong defense. In one semi-final Saturday Calgary now faces the Brock Badgers (St. Catherines, ON) , who turned aside the powerful Brandon Bobcats 74-66 Friday in a come from behind win against the #5 'Cats. Late games tonight have Winnipeg against Royal Military College, and manitoba facing Minot State, ND.

From Simon Fraser Sports Information Scottsdale, AZ – Despite a double-double from fourth year forward Greg Wallis, the Simon Fraser University Clan men’s basketball team dropped their first of two exhibition games in Arizona, falling 67-59 against the Trevecca Nazarene University (TN) Trojans on Friday morning. The Clan play Vanguard on Saturday morning at 8:30am (7:30 Pacific). “I thought I struggled from the free throw line and we had a lot of easy shots that should have put us ahead but didn’t fall,” said Wallis following the game. “A lot of times where we should have gotten the and-one shot we didn’t take it up strong enough or hard enough and didn’t get the shot to fall.” Wallis scored a team high 17 points for the Clan, while adding ten rebounds, including three on the offensive glass. Wallis’ 17 tied Trevecca’s Marcos Salvi for the game high, as the pair both hit on 8-of-15 of their field goal attempts. Both teams struggled from beyond the arc, SFU shot 3-for-17 from three-point range, while the Trojans weren’t much better, hitting 5-of-23 three-point attempts. In the first half, the Clan spotted the Trojans one point after JP Philistin (Montreal, QC) took a technical foul for dunking during the warm-up. Josh Helton hit 1-of-2 free throws to give Travecca a 1-0 lead before the opening tip. The Clan took the lead 6-3 in the opening minute after a Nolan Holmes (Victoria, B.C.) jumper; however an 8-0 by the Trojans put them up 11-6. Trevecca’s opened up their largest lead in the first half with just under three minutes remaining before the break (31-24), however the Clan were able to close it back to five points at the half (36-31). The Trojans began the second half where they left off, opening up a 12-point lead (49-37), before the Clan were able to rally, generating a 12-2 run to close the gap to three (52-49) with just over seven minutes remaining. Down the stretch Trevecca made the most of multiple trips to the free throw line, while the Clan struggled to find their shot while third year point guard Sean Burke (North Vancouver, B.C.) fouled out, handing the game to the Trojans 67-59. “We were able to put it together and play better than [Trevecca] later in the second half, however we weren’t the aggressor for long enough and allowed them to close out the game,” added Wallis. “Every single game it seems we play up or down to our competition, and it’s frustrating.” The Clan shot a collective 40 per cent from the floor (22-for-55), while the Trojans shot 39.7 per cent (23-for-58). SFU out rebounded TNU 40-to-34, however committed 18 turnovers to Trevecca’s ten. “We need to hit those close range jumpers and layups when we get opportunities down low, and that just didn’t happen,” said SFU head coach Scott Clark following the game. “We need to compete harder for those shots and make our free throw when we get to the line.”
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Simon Fraser University
Recreation & Athletics
"Thinking of the World"
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email: srmclean@sfu.ca
SFU Recreation & Athletics - Pride - Passion - Tradition

#9 Ottawa 82, St. Mary's 81 The Gee-Gees nearly blew an 11 point lead with 2:40 remaining, turning the ball over 5 times in 6 possessions and then taking a shot clock violation with 5.5 seconds left that gave the Huskies a chance to win. However, Mark McLaughlin's shot at the buzzer came off and Ottawa escaped to meet Concordia tomorrow in one semi-final of the Shoveller at Dalhousie. The game was very close the entire way until Gee-Gees 6'2" freshman guard Jacob Gibson-Bascombe hit back-to-back threes with about 4 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to extend Ottawa's lead to 8. 6'9" Dax Dessureault was instrumental in the win for Ottawa, scoring their last 6 points including made 2 free throws that gave the Gee-Gees a 5 point lead with just over a minute to play and then an emphatic dunk inside after SMU had crept back to trail by just one with 30 seconds left. St. Mary's played without starting 6'1" guard Shane Morrison, who was unable to make it back in time from Toronto where he went for Christmas, while the Gee-Gees played without starting 6'3" wing Donnie Gibson, who injured his back in practice yesterday and is likely to miss the remainder of the tournament.

York 70, Laval 68 Tut Ruach led the Lions to what must be considered an upset in the first round at Ryerson's Ed Dearmon Memorial tournament. The Lions held on after leading by 6 with about 3 1/2 minutes left as Ruach made 4 consecutive free throws. However, he missed 2 free throws late which allowed Laval a good look at a game-tying shot that came off, allowing the Lions to escape with only their third win of the season. York was methodical offensively and played some zone defense that played well as les Rouge et Or were uncharacteristically cold from the perimeter. York awaits the winner of Queen's/Western in one semi-final tomorrow.

Brock 74, #3 Brandon 66 The Badgers heated up from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Bobcats 31-17 including an 8-0 off the start of the fourth to erase a 6 point deficit and record their second straight victory over a Top 10 team. Trailing 49-43 entering the fourth, the Badgers got back-to-back 3's to lead by 2 and then later got another pair of 3's consecutively, part of an 18-4 run that gave them a 61-53 win with 5 1/2 minutes remaining. Brock will now face the winner of Calgary/Acadia in the championship semi-final tomorrow. More from Winnipeg web site: A strong fourth quarter helped the Brock Badgers defeat the Brandon Bobcats 74-66 in the opening game of the University draw of the 41st MTS Wesmen Classic. The Badgers outscored Brandon 31-17 in the final quarter to earn their opening round victory. Brandon held a slim 29-27 lead at halftime, but were outscored 47-37 in the second half. Owen White led the Badgers with 20 points, including 10-of-12 from the free throw line. Fifth year guard Brad Rootes had a solid game finishing with a double-double 16 points, 10 assists. The Bobcats were led by fifth year guard Adam Hartman’s 17 points. Brock will face the winner of the Acadia-Calgary matchup in one semi final Saturday night at 8:00 p.m.

#5 Concordia 109, UNB 78 The Stingers built leads as large as 30 by midway through the second quarter and played their entire contingent of 14 players in burying the Varsity Reds in the first game of the Rod Schoveller Memorial tournament at Dalhousie. Concordia's athleticism was too much for the Reds to handle as the Stingers scored off turnovers and got out in transition after misses to decide the game early. UNB scored 29 of their 78 points from the foul line, going 29 for 35. 6'1" Damian Buckley led Concordia with 14 points while brother Dwayne, back after a knee injury, saw limited minutes after participating in just 1 1/2 practices leading up to the tournament and scored 12 points. Starting 6'8" center Jamal Gallier continues to struggle with a leg contusion and played only 5 minutes today. Concordia will face the winner of this afternoon's Ottawa vs. St. Mary's affair that just got started.

Winnipeg/RMC updates beginning at 7 PM Eastern time LIVE UPDATES courtesy of David Larkins from the Scrum