Monday, 18 February 2008

Updates from Quebec and Toronto

Alex Tourigny's UQAM/Concordia game notes... Olga Hrykac's Citadins are far from being a one man band and they proved it last night against Concordia as 6 players had 10 points or more during the game. The Stingers and the Citadins played a very intense game from the start. Concordia took a quick 7 point lead in the first few minutes of the game but UQAM came back strong, taking a 3 point lead to the 2nd quarter. The Citadins transition game was great and they were able to beat the Stingers press defense by pushing the ball hard down the court, which was the big difference in the game. Concordia then had some players in foul trouble early on in the 3rd quarter, including 6'7" center Jamal Gallier. UQAM took advantage of it and started to attack the key, which they did pretty well. The Citadins build a 14 points lead in the 2nd half and Concordia never really got back in the game. UQAM had to win the game by more than 6 points to get the tie-breaker against Concordia and they did, 92-80. 6'3" Joseph Atangana showed his athlecism all game long, punishing Concordia players with hard smashing blocks and some good dunks. Stingers' coach, John Dore didn't appreciate some of Atangana emotion burst after some of Atangana's blocks, neither did Sebastien Martin. Both player engaged in a "boxing like" stare down before pushing each other. UQAM ended the game with a 54.7 shooting %, but still had some problems from downtown (2/10) and at the free throw line (20/35, for 57%). It was UQAM 7th win in their last 9 games and are now sitting in 2nd place since they got the tie-breaker vs Concordia and vs McGill.

U of T Update by Mel Magalas... Toronto Varsity Blues defeated Ryerson by a score of 100 to 78 in what was a hard fought game. It wasn’t until the final six minutes that the wheels fell off for Ryerson and the Blues took control of the game. It seemed that whenever Toronto would get a 10-12 point lead, Ryerson would get it close again. The big boys for Ryerson made it a hard fought battle, with Boris Bakovic striking for 26 points and Igor Bakovic getting 22. In the end, it was once again the “Boys in Blue”, who led by captain Mike Degiorgio, orchestrated a fine victory. The outside shooting of Robbie Paris and Nick Magalas contributed for 25 and 20 points respectively. Magalas looked especially sharp as he slashed his way to the hoop and went right at the heart of Ryerson with some fine soft touch lay ups. Paul Sergautis was also in double digits, and true to form, he defended hard against a “gritty” Ryerson team. Sergautis had ten points on the night but more importantly he nailed two outside shots at the start of the second half which gave the Blues a confidence builder that seemed to carry them through the rest of the game. Toronto’s big boys did some scoring of their own as Nick Snow hit for 15 points and Andrew Wasik counted for eleven. Mike Degiorgio was the calming factor in this game as he controlled the pace and counted for 11 points of his own. The experience and leadership of Degiorgio has proved invaluable for this years Blues team, as they now get ready to play their semi final game next Sunday afternoon at 3 PM and for the first time in a long time it will be on their own home court.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How great of Magalas senior to showcase his own son, such objective reporting must be so embarrassing. Let's leave the reporting to the experts.

Anonymous said...

I also attended the Toronto vs. Ryerson game Saturday and thought that "Magalas senior" provided an accurate and fair description of the game, including his son Nick's play.

As for your commenter who wants you to leave reporting to the experts, "Magalas senior" may fit the bill. In any event, there was no other full report on this blog and I thought Mel's report was excellent.