Friday 28 December 2007

Notes from this afternoon's games

NOTES FROM AFTERNOON GAMES: In Ottawa's win over St. Mary's, the Huskies stayed in the game by continually breaking down Gee-Gee defenders off the dribble and creating. 6'5" Aaron Duncan and 6'2" Mark McLaughlin were especially effective for St. Mary's. While the Gee-Gees got solid efforts off their bench in spurts, including 6'0" Vlad Pislaru knocking down a pair of threes and 6'2" Jacob Gibson-Bascombe also hitting a pair of late 3's and finishing with 15 points, Ottawa's inexperienced bench almost turned the game over late, again showing that the Gee-Gees need to develop a deeper bench for a push into March. Starting 6'5" forward David Labentowicz had fouled out and 6'3" wing Donnie Gibson did not play due to a back injury. The Huskies hope to have 6'1" Shane Morrison back in the lineup soon after he could not get back to Halifax from his Toronto home after Christmas. CALGARY HAMMERS ACADIA: In what was billed as the biggest game of the day: #2 vs. #4 (in some rankings), the Dinos made short work of the Axemen, jumping out to a 20 point lead early in the second quarter, watched Acadia make a run or two to get it back to low double digits before pushing it back up to 20 with about 6 minutes left. The Dinos have tremendous athletes up front and on the wings and today got a great effort from guard Jeff Price. If Calgary gets consistently good guard play, they will be very tough to beat. Tomorrow the Dinos face the very dangerous Brock Badgers and their arsenal of three-point shooters. All-Canadian Brad Rootes leads the way but underrated Mike Kemp, a solid defender and rebounder, also can hit big shots from downtown and is taking much more of a leadership role for the Badgers. Brock also has welcomed 6'8" Michael Muir to their lineup, eligible immediately. Muir previously played for Guelph and was an Ontario Provincial team member a few years ago. In YORK'S upset over LAVAL, the Lions played zone virtually the entire game and appear to be making adjustments defensively after a first half of the season where they were one of the worst defending teams in Ontario. Historically an quick hitting, up tempo offensive team, today York calmly ran their offense usually very deep into the shot clock and again can rely on the superior exploits of 6'3" Tut Ruach to bail them out when needed. WESTERN edged Queen's on a late bucket as the Mustangs appear to be tightening up defensively, playing all 12 guys in their lineup and spending more time pressuring the ball in the front court. The Mustangs appeared to pay special attention to defending the three today against the Gaels and were able to defeat Queen's for the first time this season after a pair of earlier losses to the Gaels. Head Coach Brad Campbell also mentioned that Keenan Jeppesen will indeed be sidelined for the season as had been widely speculated/reported. Jeppesen still has not recovered from a foot injury that has plagued him since he hurt it last June. He continues to get treatment on the foot and as of now there is no need for any type of surgery. He should be ready for next season when he will have two full seasons on CIS eligibility remaining.

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