Wednesday 27 February 2008

OUA West Semi-Finals: Brock holds off Guelph

Brock 78, Guelph 74 The Badgers held off a late Guelph comeback attempt with clutch free throw shooting to advance to the OUA West final. Brock was in control up 13 with just over 3 minutes remaining when 6'4" Jay Mott had a conventional 3 point play that started a 10-0 run that brought Guelph back to within 3 at 70-67 with just under a minute to play. But 5'10" Brad Rootes was fouled by Mott after an upfake on the baseline in a somewhat-controversial call that left Mott on the floor nursing a sore jaw. Rootes made the first and missed the second free throw but 6'8" Dusty Bianchin grabbed the rebound and Brock proceed to close the game out on the foul line. Brock was completely in control of the game for 37 minutes, leading by 9 at halftime and then extending to a double digit lead by pounding the ball inside to 6'7" Owen White (game-high 25 points) in the third quarter. The Badgers got balanced scoring inside and out, including only 3 3's to take a 9 point halftime lead. Mott led all scorers with 13 1st half points while 6'8" Duncan Milne was saddled with 2 early fouls and entered halftime with 3. Milne led Guelph with 19 and 6'3" Nick Pankerichan, Mott and 6'4" Borko Popic 18 apiece. 6'0" Scott Murray hit his second 3 of the half in transition off a nice feed from Rootes to give the Badgers their largest lead just before the break. Rootes had scored the final 4 points of the first quarter during a 5-0 run which broke a 15-15 tie to give Brock the lead after 1. 6'4" Jonathan Moscatelli was not in the lineup for Guelph. Brock now faces the winner of Windsor/Western.

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