The Redmen hung around for almost the entire first half before Cincinnati began pressuring all over the floor and creating turnovers to win by about 30 in a game played before a sparse gathering at the Raven's Nest at Carleton. With the score tied at 34 with just under 4 minutes to play in the second quarter (FIBA rules except 35 second shot clock), the Bearcats went on a 17-0 run that bridged the two halves, including the final 8 points of the first half.
McGill grabbed their largest lead of the night at 27-21 on a conventional three point play in transition by 6'3" freshman Simon Bibeau, who was the Redmen's most consistent and effective player on the night. Bibeau knocked down several early j's, got to the rim off the dribble for some slick dump offs and rarely got out of control, even when playing at the high speeds the Bearcats play at. For a CIS freshman, his decision-making and ability to get to eight feet under control was tremendous on this night. Cincinnati's pressure made it very difficult for McGill to get any easy "o" in the decisive third quarter when the Bearcats went on a 23-9 run including the first 9 points of the quarter to lead 65-45 after three.
on, McGill was able to run their quarter court sets to perfection, freeing up 6'8" Nic Langley for three consecutive open 3's and 6'5" Michael White, who knocked down a pair. McGill also had a nice effort from Hamilton native freshman 6'5" Cody Mazza-Anthony, who sealed off a much larger Bearcat defender for a pair of layins inside. Mazza-Anthony is another in the long line of fundamentally-sound Hamilton post players who knows how to use his body around the rim and plays with an edge. Last season's QSSF Rookie-of-the-Year 5'9" pg Olivier Bouchard was reasonably effective against the longer, larger Bearcat guards. McGill played without 6'4" Karim Sy-Morissette (Dawson College) who is out with a back injury and 6'4"Kyle Bernard who has a charley horse.
Cincinnati continues their tour of Ottawa tomorrow night at Scotiabank Place against the Carleton Ravens in a 6 PM start.
2 comments:
Actually, apart from playing the game in four ten minute quarters, the game was pretty much NCAA rules....35 second clock, bonus on the 7th team foul and 1 and 1 in bonus as opposed to the 2 shot FIBA rule.
Simon Bibeau was very impressive, especially so considering he is a freshman.
McGill had a 34-32 lead late in the first half but Cincinnati reeled off 10 straight points to lead by eight at the break.
The second half saw the Bearcats added nine more points before McGill finally scored a basket, but by then the game was well in the Bearcat's hands.
McGill shot the ball well from the perimeter, at least early on, which is what Carleton has to do to be competitive Saturday.
If the Ravens shoot as poorly as they did against Maine and NMS, the Bearcats will punish them far more severely than those teams did.
I have followed a number of Big East teams as they have made these Labor Day Weekend tours of Ontario Province the past 3-4 years. Any help locating box scores of these games would be appreciated. I really enjoyed your game recap.
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