Sunday 24 February 2008
OUA East: Gee-Gees come back to defeat Blues in Toronto
Ottawa 63, Toronto 60; Gee-Gees win OUA East sudden death semi-final 6'9" Dax Dessureault converted a pair of clutch free throws with 40 seconds remaining to give Ottawa the lead for good and the Gee-Gees held the Blues scoreless for the final 2:30 of the game in front of a racous sell-out crowd of over 1,000 at U of T. With just under 3 minutes remaining and the game tied at 57, Blues 6'8" Nick Snow blocked a shot inside and in the ensuing break, 6'3" Mike Degiorgio found 6'2" Rob Paris open in the right corner for a clutch 3 that gave the Blues a three point lead. Little did anyone know that those would be Toronto's final points of the season. On the next possession, Dessureault followed up a miss with a clutch put-back tip to bring the Gee-Gees back to within 1 and the Gee-Gees held Toronto on the final 4 possessions of the game, setting up his big pair of free throws, allowing Ottawa to advance to next weekend's OUA East championship game at the Raven's Nest against #1 Carleton. Snow (12 points, 13 rebounds including 7 offensive) had a clean look at a baseline jumper to give the Blues the lead with just under 20 seconds to go but could not convert and later 6'3" Donnie Gibson knocked down another pair of free throws when U of T fouled. Degiorgio and Paris then each missed tough 3's to tie as the game ended. With the game tied at halftime at 31, the Blues used some solid "d" leading to easy transition scores and clutch 3 point shooting by Degiorgio to grab a nine-point lead at 42-33 and it appeared the Blues were on their way. But Dessureault (15 points - all after halftime, 12 rebounds) and 6'3" Sean Peter (13 points, 7 rebounds) helped rally the Gee-Gees to even things late in the fourth quarter. Ottawa had jumped out to an early 5 point lead but could not gap the Blues any further despite a 15 point first-half from Rogers Television game MVP 6'4" Josh Gibson-Bascombe, who also added 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals but appeared to tire down the stretch from playing virtually the entire game. Ottawa tried to established Dessureault inside but the big center struggled in the first half, missing all 6 of his shots, most of which came in low post isolations on Snow. Without the threat in the post, Gibson-Bascombe took over on the perimeter, nailing 3 3's in the first half including an elbow jumper at the buzzer to knot the score. But Dessureault got it going late in the game when it counted and the Gee-Gees "d" stifened enough to hold the Blues down. The game was the final chapter in the solid, underrated career of the fiesty Degiorgio who nearly willed his team again but unfortunately came up short.
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6 comments:
Ottawa U once again demonstrated why they shouldn't be excluded from any list of top teams that aren't coached by Dave Smart. They are a gutsy and talented squad that is perhaps the only team in the nation not to feel a bit intimidated by Carleton. Look for them to give the Ravens a real challenge next week, as they have in all but one game between the two teams in the past three years.
Even though I am a Carleton alumnus, part of me wants the Gee Gees to win so they are ensured a CIS berth that will probably go to a less-talented CIS squad if they don't qualify automatically.
While I enjoyed watching the Gee-Gees v Blues playoff, I must say I was absolutely disgusted by the constant booing of Josh Gibson-bascombe every time he touched the ball by a sizable number of fans.
Why a classy guy like JGB was booed like that is a total mystery to me.
At any rate, it was a classless display by some ignorant people posing as basketball fans, IMO.
Hey Toronto, this is not Sens v Leafs.
No amateur athlete deserves that kind of boorish treatment.
Booing the opponents top player,in order to distract him from his game seems to be something that is become characteristic of Toronto sports audiences. It does not matter if the sport is pro or amateur; they will do it.It is kind of childish and I hope it does not catch on in other cities.
Toronto hockey fans used to boo Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky so no need for Josh Gibson-Bascombe to take things personally.
While booing opponents is certainly poor sportsmanship, it pales in comparison to the treatment of the University of Toronto team and fans at Ottawa U. at a similar game last year.
The players on the bench had a group of Ottawa U's finest standing close to the bench blowing horns and screaming at them. There was no shortage of booing.
The twenty or so Toronto fans were heckled, jeered and sworn at throughout the game, with Coach Katz's wife singled out for personal verbal abuse. The highlight of the Ottawa U. fans' poor behaviour had to be the group of students who knowingly stood in front of the U of T captain's grandfather and blocked his vision of the game. Those who heckled Toronto fans were certainly supported by the game organizers, as pleas by the Toronto fans to the organizers to intervene were rejected.
Those Toronto fans who attended last year's game have never been treated more rudely and with less sportsmanship by any fans anywhere than by Ottawa U.
I sure JGB didn't take it personally.
In fact, it might have served to pump him up.
I'm just saying it's stupid, pointless and doesn't accomplish anything except allow some yahoos to get their jollies.
Booing Orr, Gretzky, Crosby, Alfredsson, et al....just typical TO class.
Booing CIS basketball players?
My, has this sport arrived or what?
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