Basketball: Lakehead's great group of dudes steal Ottawa's thunder

It was only fitting Lakehead lifted their little man who plays large skyward after stunning Ottawa 78-73 in the OUA third-place game, since Greg Carter carried them.

The Thunderwolves' second-year floor leader had a major impact in the comeback win, with his quickness and on-the-ball defence (11 of Ottawa's 20 turnovers were charged to Moser Trophy finalist Josh Gibson-Bascombe, ouch), and he also stuck a dagger with a left-corner triple which capped a game-turning 15-0 run the fourth quarter, as Lakehead went from seven points down through three quarters to ahead by eight.

That was Carter's only three-point attempt of the day, but he knew when he could do it. That sort of sums up coach Scott Morrison's young Thunderwolves, who shot an effective 63% on another team's floor in their biggest game of the season. They have been a tough team to predict all season, but now stand as the only OUA team this season to own wins over Carleton and Ottawa.

Lakehead is a tough team to predict, but turned the Gee-Gees inside-out thanks in large part to the bomber from the bright lights of Bellevegas, Jamie Searle, hitting from outside (18 points, 5-of-7 on triples) and Yoosrie Salhia (16 points, 11 boards) cleaning up inside. Carter's fellow graduate from St. Patrick's in Ottawa, Anthony McIntosh (eight points) was also a minor X-factor, making a nice short-range jumper which gave the Thunderwolves their first lead early in the final quarter. Andrew Hackner (10 points) also hit a big three with just a little less than two minutes to play.

Carter was steady (11 points, five rebounds, just three turnovers). He also earned himself a likely shot at, depending on the seeding, getting to face another conference player of the year next Friday, either Christian "T-Bear" Upshaw from St. FX, Josh Whyte of UBC (in the 2 vs. 7 quarter-final, maybe) or CIS scoring king Showron Glover of Saskatchewan.

Meantime, how much does it hurt for Ottawa to cede the capital's sporting attention to Carleton for the next week?

Gibson-Bascombe (16 points, 10 rebounds) and fellow fifth-year co-captain Donnie Gibson (16, including 4-of-4 on threes) will go out on a home-court loss to a team they trounced in regular season, which also hurts. Warren Ward led Ottawa with 29 points, so do the math, the rest of the Ottawa team scored a mere dozen.

The just-the-facts with coach Dave DeAveiro's Ottawa outfit is it had two chances to reach the Final 8 without even living the city limits. For most people, there is no hair-splitting when those kind of opportunities fall by the wayside, even with Carleton across town.
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12 comments:

  1. Go G-Gods!

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  2. Lakehead!!!! Goin to the big dance!! Yeah baby. The gee gees are nothin but glue!

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  3. They did it for Captain Lou!!!!!

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  4. It's not hard to figure out why Ottawa lost this game.
    Apart from the Big Three, the Gee Gees got from these five stiffs:
    Nemanja Baletic...15 minutes, 2 points
    Max Clarkson...17 minutes, 2 points
    Matt Riendeau....17 minutes, 2 points
    Louis Gauthier...22 minutes, 4 points
    Ryan Malcolm-campbell....22 minutes, 2 points.
    Next year, the Big Three will be down to just one.
    If this is all Warren Ward has to work with, God help him.

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  5. I agree that no team can win with only three guys comin' to play but its a mystery as to how guys beyond the big three for ottawa all of a sudden disappeared at the end of the season ... i'm beginnin' to question the coaching ... the five stiffs above lack the confidence usually instilled by good coaching support and mentorship!

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  6. Ottawa lost the game in the 4th quarter ... how do you start the quarter with 5 - 0 fouls for ottawa (not a physical team in their own gym) and the refs aren't gettin' an earful ... Smart would never have let that happen!!!

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  7. Give some credit to Lakehead. They've been known as a fourth quarter team all year and they've beaten some good teams and have been in the top 10 ever since the end of November. It's also not fair to call out guys (Ottawa) personally.

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  8. Lakehead definitely deserves credit as they did not back down at all even in the face of being down by more than 10 for a good part of the game. It was Ottawa's game to lose. But lets try on this perspective in defence of the guys who have been singled out from someone who was there ... during Lakehead's 15-0 run to secure the lead in the last 5-6 minutes of the game when Ottawa offence was m.i.a. the majority of shots were taken by WW who probably went 0-4 during that time ... now how are other guys supposed to score if they are not getting the opportunity ... we all know what a volume shooter can accomplish ... points for himself but rarely a win for the team ... lastly i don't want to say the refs were a factor but let's take for example the so-called turnovers by JGB ... uummm JGB called for carrying ... he's one of the few CIS players who actually don't carry the ball! where's the coach?

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  9. Cantankerous3/14/2010 10:51 am

    Lakehead deserves all the credit in the world for overcoming what at one point was a 12-13 pt deficit to win on the road.
    BUT....
    The officiating in this game was HORRIBLE!
    Intrusive calls that were so borderline most crews would haven't give them a second look.
    Completely disrupted the flow of the game and left the players on both teams bewildered.
    The effectiveness of the Dees Gees bigs was severely hampered by
    a series of dubious illegal screen calls.
    Have these refs ever heard of pick and roll?
    The worst guy in that crew was the little guy.
    I think he was the same guy who made that horrendous call on Elliot Thompson two weeks ago which led to OT.
    I i ever see him again it'll be too soon.

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  10. The officiating in the CIS period is horrible ... at first i thought Smart was just annoying but he's actually the only coach that calls them out during game (and probably at other times too) so he gets the calls ... until officiating can be sorted out the CIS will never be able to rise to another level ... such inferior referreeing stunts the play of really talented players and frustrates many teams.

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  11. Raso always complains but he often gets T'd because he goes beyond what refs will accept.
    Smart just seems to know how far he can push it so he seldom gets t'd up.
    Other coaches don't even try to work the officials...I guess they figure what's the point.
    I agree CIS officiating in general is poor, but there are some refs who go beyond bad.
    Those are the ones whose big egos are inversely proportionate to their meagre abilities.
    I am sure you've seen them...the refs who have to make a show out of every call.
    They seem more concerned with getting noticed than getting the call right.

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  12. I'm wondering if the refs are judging Carleton by a different standard. Two intentional foul calls in the game against Windsor. Another two in the game against UofO. From the cheap seats, these all looked like just hard, physical plays. Fouls, certainly. But intentional? I gotta read the rule book and figure this one out...

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