Friday 27 November 2009

Ottawa 65, McMaster 63 in OVERTIME

6'4" fifth-year guard Josh Gibson-Bascombe hit a twisting floater with 4.1 seconds remaining in overtime as the Gee-Gees outlasted the Marauders in a very exciting game in Hamilton. With the score tied and just over 20 seconds remaining, Mac's star 6'6" forward Keenan Jeppessen (13 points) had his shot in traffic blocked and the result was Ottawa ball out of bounds. After the Gee-Gees struggled to get the ball in-bounds and almost turned it over, Gibson-Bascombe (18 points) took possession at mid court, drove left around Jermaine DeCosta and then hit a teardrop over the outstretched arm of 6'7" Ryan Christie to allow Ottawa to survive after giving up a 16 point first half lead. Jeppessen's shot at the buzzer to tie was not close however the fifth-year forward from Stoney Creek put on an All-Canadian performance down the stretch of regulation and early in OT, scoring the first five points of the extra frame when it appeared the Marauder comeback would lead to an overtime win. But the Gee-Gees stiffened defensively and made some big shots, most noteable a three by 6'6" Nemanja Belatic to bring Ottawa back within 1.

Ottawa dominated much of the first half, holding Mac to only 12 points midway through the second quarter, leading by as much as 16 before a late run got the Marauders back to within 11 at halftime. An 8-2 Mac run got the game back to within 5 but Gibson-Bascombe was able to knife into the lane and feed Ottawa's bigs for easy layups and 6'6" Warren Ward had some acobatic finishes to enable the Gee-Gees to maintain their leads. Ottawa led by 5 with about 3 minutes remaining but DeCosta hit a huge 3 from the left wing and then Jeppessen tied the game with about a minute left to force the extra session.

Although Gibson-Bascombe had another tremendous game, Mac's Scott Laws did a very solid job on the star guard in the second half allowing Mac to stay close. 6'6" Ryan Christie, who was a DNP in the past 3 games for Mac, got into early foul trouble and looked sluggish at the start but was on the floor for much of the Marauders comeback. 6'3" freshman Victor Raso was solid for Mac, dropping a pair of long 3's in the third quarter to help kickstart his team.

The Gee-Gees jumped out to leads as large as 16 in the first half as Gibson-Bascombe started quickly and 6'1" Max Clarkson did yeomen's work scrapping around the offensive glass while Baletic was also solid. More importantly, the Gee-Gees did a great job getting back in transition and defending Mac in the quarter court and, had it not been for another outstanding half from Jeppessen (plus some very poor Mac free-throw shooting), the lead may have been higher. Christie looked sluggish, giving up several second chances on the defensive glass, missing 4 free throws and had to go to the bench with his 3rd foul with about 5 minutes remaining in the second quarter. Mac got back in the game late in the quarter as Ottawa committed a series of fouls, at least 3 of which were 94 feet from their basket.

Watch the game (very good feed) via webcast

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