Men's basketball Top 10: Carleton cleans up down East

Carleton goes 3-for-3 in Halifax (where have we heard that before), while Calgary stumbles, although to be fair it was the second of back-to-back games against a well-coached Alberta team.
  1. Carleton: The Ravens' 83-61 win over St. Francis Xavier in the Rod Shovellor tournament final was their 20th straight in Halifax, dating back to the 2001 Final 8.

    "Textbook" would be the buzzword. Tourney MVP Aaron Doornekamp had 16 points, nine rebounds, six assists in the final. The Ravens held three good programs -- the X-Men, No. 9 Dal on Saturday, and (albeit depleted) Acadia -- to 178 points in three games. (Acadia's had turmoil, but you get to the national title game, you get an exemption, like on the PGA.)

    The Kingston Trio (Doornekamp, Stu Turnbull, Rob Saunders) and Ottawa Duo (point guard Mike Kenny and power forward Kevin McCleery) each scored between 13 and 16 points vs. X. Sophomore Elliott Thompson was game MVP on Saturday, so the Ravens are showing they have some depth.

    McCleery went off for a career-high 34 points on 16-of-19 shooting in the win over Acadia. No one needs any reminder why that win was significant for the Ravens.
  2. UBC: The T-Birds had no problems beating Thompson Rivers twice (106-51 and 94-58). Of note was that scoring star Chris Dyck had only four points in 11 minutes in that 55-point blowout. Take that as a positive. Sometimes a big scorer such as Dyck, the kind who creates his own shot, will defer if the challenge is not there.
  3. St. Francis Xavier: The X-Men probably learned a little more about themselves from playing Carleton.

    It would have been something to be at Dalplex for the X-Saint Mary's game. Christian (T-Bear) Upshaw torched the Huskies for 48 points (his career high; not sure if anyone else has had that many this season), while Joey (King Handles) Haywood had 27 for SMU.

    One of X's concerns may be post play. They got outrebounded by Lakehead in the first game (granted, it was the first game), while the Thunderwolves' Yoosrie Salhia had his way, posting 21 points and 11 rebounds.

    Ottawa native Dwayne Johnson had a big night for X vs. Lakehead (17 points, nine rebounds) and Saint Mary's (scoring 13)
  4. Calgary: What was that throwaway line about Calgary being streaky? Henry Bekkering (strained neck) did not play and the Dinos split at home vs. Alberta. They were held under 35 points in the first half for the fourth game in a row in the 78-62 on Saturday.

    The Golden Bears, who got 17 points from forward Justin VanLoo, must have had a great halftime speech from Don Horwood. They shot 23% in the first half and 56% over the final 20 minutes.

    Ross Bekkering
    had a 24-point, 17-rebound night on Friday, when the Dinos won 84-76.

    Calgary ended up second at the Wesmen Classic after losing 84-81 to Brandon on Tuesday. Henry Bekkering and Robbie Sihota each had 20 points and double-digit rebound totals, but Dany Charlery (23 points, 12 rebounds), Tarik Tokar (17) and Stevens Marcellin (16) came up big for the Bobcats.

    This one goes out to someone who's seen Calgary in person -- what causes them be so streaky?

    Sihota also hit the game-winner in Calgary's 74-73 win over No. 5 Ottawa on Monday.

  5. Ottawa: The Gee-Gees probably come out smelling like a rose from their trip to Winnipeg, where they got the Wesmen Classic bronze after beating Alberta 78-75 in overtime. (Warren Ward had 18 points, nine rebounds.) They played 90 pretty tense minutes over two nights and had a good game vs. Saskatchewan on Sunday. Beating a team which has since beat Calgary cannot be bad for the ol' RPI.

    Josh Gibson-Bascombe, who has been averaging close to a double-double for the last several games, had 17 points, nine rebounds and six assists in 39 minutes vs. Calgary. One wonders if there will be some Moser Award hype for him, especially since the attention Josh Wright draws is bound to create some room.
  6. Windsor: Home to Guelph next Wednesday in their first OUA West game.
  7. Concordia: The Buckley brothers had a big night to help the Stingers beat Point Loma Nazarene 86-84 Monday night in San Diego. Damian Buckley had 21 points and six assists, while Dwayne Buckley added 16. Point Loma, a NAIA team, has beaten Trinity Western and Simon Fraser over past couple weeks, so it's not like they're that far below the calibre of teams in Canada.
  8. UVic: The Vikes got by Fraser Valley, 76-58 and 60-53. Former Winnipeg high school star Cyril Indome had a team-high 14 points -- more than double his average -- in just 22 minutes on Friday.

    The Vikes topped 90 points in both of their exhibition wins this week vs. Whatcom C.C..
  9. Dalhousie: Coach John Campbell's Tigers lost to Carleton in the Rod Shoveller tourney semi-final after opening with a win over Bishop's.

  10. Western: The Mustangs split a pair of exhibition games vs. NCAA Division 3 Rochester Institute of Technology.

    Next up: Western hosts Laurier on Wednesday.
Elsewhere.
  • Rob Pettapiece will have more on the women's side. It is notable than frosh centre Anneka Bakker was No. 5 Alberta's top scorer in the first of their back-to-back win over No. 6Calgary, if only since her dad, Dick Bakker, was a star defensive lineman at Queen's in the 1970s.
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3 comments:

  1. I'm not qualified to pass comment on why Calgary is streaky, but I can say that they very much act as a team. They all slow down together, get revved together, get desperate and do dumb things together, shoot well together or can't hit the broad side of a barn together. It is a rare night when one player is doing well and the rest are not, though it isn't uncommon that one player may be having an off night.

    I have noticed that when the court leader (commonly Henry, but it can also be Ross, Robbie, or even Tyler) is having a particularly bad night, the whole team just sags, and all it takes is one thing (a dunk, a couple of great plays) to snap them all out of it.

    I have seen them all in huge funks, then someone seems to get mad and picks the whole team up. Even Tony Dhaliwal did it a few years back leading a huge come from behind victory.

    More often in the past years, it's been an explosive point guard (Hornsberger, Feist, Price) that has poured the energy onto the court for the team, and kept the streakiness down. Coach Dan has had to change since he lost Price, which looks to me like it amplified things.

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  2. Calgary relies on their 4 big players for everything. Other than Fidler, who often ends up in the 3 spot as it is, they don't have players in the 1 and 2 spots that can shoot and make game speed decisions at the CIS level on a consistent basis. If I were coaching against Calgary, I would be pressing them all game and doubling the post at every opportunity to force whoever is playing point (its a revolving door) or the 2 spot to knock down open jumpers. Calgary will stay streaky until they get some consistent guard play.

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  3. So Dwayne Johnson can shoot the rock?
    [/bad joke]

    ReplyDelete