The Mustangs broke open a tight game midway through the third quarter to run out to leads as large as 16, held off a late Gael rally that threatened to make a game of it and defeated the Gaels in London this afternoon. Western shot 33 free throws in this afternoon's game including a 14 for 14 effort from 6'6" Andrew Wedemire, who created problems for Queen's in the low block.
6'1" Ryan Barbeau was very effective for Western, usually making very wise reads off ball screens that ended up getting Wedemire the ball in a good position inside. When Gael defenders dug down and Barbeau found himself open on the perimeter, he made Queen's pay, going 4 for 5 from downtown, finishing with 24 points to match Wedemire for game-high honours.
With Western leading by 14, Gaels fifth-year guard Ryan Hairsine and 6'6" sophomore forward Bernard Bergesson hit back-to-back 3's to get the lead down to 8 and Queen's started what turned out to be their final run with about 4 minutes remaining. On the subsequent possession however, Western's 6'6" Garrett Olexiuk (12 points, 11 rebounds) knocked in a rainbow off a broken play which took the air out of the Gaels rally and the 'Stangs coasted to the win from there. Hairsine (19 points) had his strongest shooting effort in several weeks, going 5 for 6 from beyond the arc in helping keep Queen's close.
In a quirky piece of scheduling, the Gaels had to deal with coming off an emotional win last night at Windsor and with subsequent travel to London late last night before playing this afternoon with rested Mustangs waiting after having routed RMC on Friday. Possibly because the Gaels were a step slower defensively, Queen's was whistled for 26 fouls without fouling to stop the clock at the end while the Mustangs had only 15. Gaels 6'6" Mitch Leger, who was a workhorse inside despite playing on a tender ankle tweaked last night in Windsor, had 20 points and 13 rebounds and made 7 trips to the foul line. Queen's went 8 for 11 from the line overall vs. 26 for 33 (79%) for Western.
2 comments:
Unfortunately, and no disrepect towards RMC, but Queens consistently has to play rested starters on the second night of any weekend series. Add to that, as mentioned, an early game after a late bus ride from Windsor to Western, and it is fairly impressive that Queens could make a game out of it. Who schedules these games!!!
Watching the game it was amazing to me that when Wedemire went in the low post ahd there was contact, he got free throws(14). When Leger went into the low post, there was always a lot of contact and he very rarely got any sympathy from the refs(7). Leger should have shot at least as many free throws at Wedemire. Leger needs to start getting some respect form the refs. The refs esp one older gentleman appeared intimidated by the Western coach.
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