Saturday 19 January 2008

OUA West: Lancers take sole possession of first place

Lakehead (9-11, 7-7) 88, McMaster (11-9, 6-7) 66 One night after being held in check, 6'4" Kiraan Posey and 6'6" Warren Thomas reasserted themselves as one of the top 1-2 punches in the OUA with a magnificent offensive performance, going a combined 20 for 38 from the floor while each scoring 29 points as the Wolves salvaged one game in the two game weekend series with the Marauders. Posey was especially effective, flirting with a triple/double with 29 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. Lakehead played much of the game in a zone, which stifled Mac despite the Marauders pounding the ball inside for most of the night. Mac trailed by 14 at halftime but Eric Magdanz knocked down a 3 on the first possession of the third quarter but then Thomas scored the next 5 points and the route was on. 5'10" Jason Scully went 6 for 7 from behind the arc for 18 points to lead Mac.

Western (13-9, 6-7) 71, Guelph (13-7, 8-5) 65 6'6" Brad Smith had a game-high 20 points as the Mustangs came back to defeat the Gryphons in Guelph. With Guelph leading 60-56 and about 4 minutes remaining, the Mustangs capitalized on multiple Gryphon turnovers for easy transition scores as the Guelph veterans: 6'9" Duncan Milne, 6'3" Nick Pankerichan and 6'4" Borko Popic threw or fumbled balls away allowing Western to finish the game on a 15-6 run for the win. Guelph had 15 of their 19 turnovers for the game after halftime and went 14-24 from the foul line. The loss was the fifth in a row at home by the Gryphs; Guelph is undefeated in league play on the road. Both teams shot under 40% and there were 40 total fouls in the game. Pankerichan led Guelph with 13 points while Popic had 9 points, 13 rebounds but shot only 2-14 with 5 turnovers. 6'1" Matt Curtis had 13 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists as the Mustangs picked up an important road victory.

Windsor (13-5, 9-4) 78, Brock (13-11, 8-5) 69 The Lancers took sole possession of first place in the OUA West using a stifling half court "d" which generally took the Badgers out of their offense and got five big 3's by fifth-year veteran Ryan Steer to win at Brock in front of a jam-packed house of 1,200 fans. Windsor withstood three big Brock runs: 9-0 off the start of the game, 14-4 to end the second quarter and finally an 8-0 run midway through the third but generally controlled the game beyond those points. Windsor led by 14 with 3 minutes to play after a long 3 from the baseline by Monte Hardware. Spurred by a momentum-changing block by 6'3" Mike Kemp, the Badgers finished the half on a 14-4 run including four 3's in the final 3 minutes of the second quarter to come back to within 2 of the Lancers by halftime. But after the Badgers tied the game on a nicely-designed backdoor cut by Kemp, Windsor scored the next 9 points of the game and Brock got no closer than 3 the rest of the way. After Brock scored the first 9 points of the game, the stingy Lancer "d" took the Badgers out of their offense, holding them to only 8 points in about 14 minutes of play. When Steer knocked down his third 3 of the second quarter, the Lancers led by 12 at 29-17 and were in the midst of a 29-8 run. Later, Steer picked off a Brad Rootes pass and appeared to be in for an uncontested layup but Kemp came flying in to get the block and on the ensuing transition possession, 6'2" Rohan Steen, back in the lineup after being out with an ankle injury, knocked in his second 3 in a minute and later Rootes hammered in a three from the top and Brock was back to within 3 at 31-28. The final four minutes of the half were classic OUA West basketball with both teams going at it and the crowd erupting on almost every possession.

Laurier (9-13, 6-7) 74, Waterloo (7-16, 4-10) 57 6'5" freshman Kale Harrison had 23 points on 5-6 shooting from downtown as the Hawks held the punchless Warriors to six points in the first quarter en route to a 20 point lead after 10 minutes and cruised to an easy win at home. 6'5" Matt Walker added 14 points and 7 rebounds including 2-3 3's as Laurier shot 8-16 from downtown overall. 6'8" Andrew Pennycook made his presence felt on the defensive end with 4 blocks while scoirng 7 points and grabbing 5 rebounds. 6'7" Alan Goodhoofd led Waterloo with 21 points and 9 rebounds.

OUA West Standings
Windsor 9-4
Brock 8-5
Guelph 8-5
McMaster 6-6
Lakehead 6-7
Western 6-7
Laurier 6-7
Waterloo 4-10

Games still to be completed:
McMaster at Lakehead

Here is Mike Quigley's game report from this afternoon's Laurier schellacking of Waterloo... GOLDEN HAWKS USE EARLY RUN TO WIN BATTLE OF WATERLOO (PART 1) The Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks used an 18-1 run in the first 5 minutes of the game to win Part 1 of the Battle of Waterloo over crosstown rivals, the University of Waterloo Warriors. All cities in the CIS with more than one university know that the overall league race and standings sometimes takes a backseat to the rivalry within the city. At stake are city bragging rights at all the venues that both teams often frequent. The Hawks took the first battle with the Warriors by a final score of 74-57. The Hawks knew that they would need to match the intensity that the Warriors traditionally have shown at the onset of games in order to be competitive. They did this, and more, scoring on 8 of their first 11 possessions, forcing the Warriors to burn both their 1st half timeouts to try to stop the Hawks. This opening 18-1 run culminated in 3 successive 3-point baskets by Hawk rookie sensation, Kale Harrison. Over the next few possessions neither team could mount a successful offense and Harrison found himself saddled with 2 fouls and banished to the bench for the next 13 minutes. The Hawks were not just a 1 man show, however, and an 8-2 Laurier run gave them a 26-6 lead at the end of the quarter. The Hawks continued to score during the 2nd quarter but the Warriors were able to answer them, scoring just enough to keep the game from becoming a total blowout. The Hawks won the quarter 19-18 and took a 45-24 lead inti halftime. In the 1st half, the Hawks shot a blistering 46.9% from the floor, including 5/8 (62.5%) from behind the 3-point arc and were 10/12 from the foul line. It is important for a team that has a 21 point lead at the half to try and maintain their intensity and forget about the score. The team that is behind by that much can go all out without any real fear of failure and, consequently, their intensity level might even increase. Both teams in this game were able to maintain their intensity although their overall scoring slipped a little due to game fatigue. The Hawks were able to win the 3rd quarter 16-15 in part thanks to a couple more Harrison 3-pointers that actually increased the lead to 25. The Warriors cut into this lead a little with a 7-0 run before the Hawks answered with a 6-0 run of their own. At the end of 3 quarters, the Hawks led 61-39. The Warriors were determined to get back into the game and opened the 4th quarter on a 10-2 run to cut the Hawks lead to 14. However, each Warrior run was stopped by a couple of Laurier baskets and that was as close as it would get. Despite the fact that Waterloo won the 4th quarter 18-13, the Hawks, with their comfortable margin, were able to win by a final score of 74-57. The win moved Laurier’s OUA record to 6-7 (10-12 overall) while Waterloo fell to 4-10. The win allowed the Hawks to maintain their position in the middle of the OUA West, in contention for one of the playoff spots, and kept the Warriors in last place in the league. The Hawks were again led by Kale Harrison (1st yr, wing, Stratford, ON) who finished with a game high 23 points in 24 minutes of play, including 5/6 from beyond the arc. Veteran Matthew Walker (4th yr, wing, Waterloo, ON) added 14 points and led the Hawks with 7 rebounds. He also picked up 4 assists and 3 blocked shots. Rookie Conor Meschino (1st yr, wing, Oakville, ON) played his best game as a Hawk so far and added 11 points. Andrew Pennycook (2nd yr, post, Toronto, ON) continued to play solid defense, altering opposition shots and picked up 4 more blocks to add to his league leading totals. Rookies Austin Walsh (point guard, Hamilton, ON) and Brandon Greenwood (wing, Mississauga, ON) also contributed solid shifts to help the team to victory. The Warriors were led by Alan Goodhoofd (2nd yr, F, Oakville, ON) who had 21 points and 9 rebounds. Matt Hayes (3rd yr, F, Midland, ON) added 10 points. The Hawks are now on the road for their next 4 games beginning this Wednesday night when they travel to St. Catherine’s to take on the #8 ranked Brock University Badgers.

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