Ouch

71-69, it still hurts almost a week later. The underdog York Lions slew your not so mighty Ryerson Rams in a Kerr Hall Gymnasium packed with over 700 spectators. The place was rockin' with the sounds and chants of playoff basketball. We even had to open the upper balcony for the extra fans. Gerald Carlse, one of York's assistant coaches, commented to me about it would be nice if all the games had this kind of atmosphere. Aye! Aye! York won the first two quarters and was ahead, 37-33 at halftime. We came out strong in the third quarter and played the kind of game that had carried us to two regular season victories over York. Aha, we finally got it together and our, 22-12 quarter translated into a, 55-49, 3rd 1/4 lead. Alas, York led by 5th year Senior (hooray and goodbye) Tut Ruach, 22 pts for the game, had a 22-14 final stanza, which got them to Ottawa on Saturday. Not a good thing, as Carleton demolishioned them by 41 points. 

So the year is over and we are all sad the way it ended. However, have we got a bright future and there will be another posting coming out soon which will address that optimism. Until then, thanks for all your support.

Gulp!

Before a crowd of almost 300 the last regular season game against arch-rival University of Toronto Blues was pretty, as in pretty ugly. The final score, 100-59, says it all. U of T was on a roll and couldn't miss from the perimeter and we were on a slide and could miss from everywhere. The Blues packed in the middle and stopped Boris from going off with his patented pivoting moves. Joey wasn't able to put back to back big games together. In the end Boris had 19 & 10, Joey had 9 & 6. The team went 0-10 from outside the arc and overall shot 27.4% from the field. Ugly is not strong enough. For the Blues PG Anthony Degiorgio ate us up for 20 pts, 3 rebs & 3 assists, while teammate Rob Paris 19, 3 & 4 in the same categories. 

The good news is that we are in the playoffs and host the York Lions on Wednesday the 25th starting at 8 PM. We'll have to work a little harder and smarter in that game as the Lions will be out for blood after we took them 2 games to none in regular season play. It should be an intense affair.

Joey Night

If you were a 6'10" 4th year Senior with above average athletic ability and a decent skill set getting 33 points and 14 rebounds wouldn't be that big of a deal given the dearth of Bigs in Canada. However, if you are Joey Imbrogno and are averaging 5 pts & 7.5 rebs it is a huge big gigantic deal. Especially, if the last time you had a big game was in your Freshman year when you flirted with a triple double 17 pts, 21 rebs & 7 bs.  So what happened in between, were we going through the Gobi Desert? Does that mean that this is just an oasis and next weekend we are packing sand up our a%* again? Tune in 2 da Road and we'll tell you all about the season ending game at the U of T Athletic Complex against the hated Blues. Or better yet make your way down on the 21st at 8p. We'll need all the support we can muster.  

For the game against York the Lions had a lot at stake, as they wanted to guarantee a playoff spot and possibly move up in the placings. For the Rams it didn't much matter what happened as we have fourth place wrapped up and with it a first round playoff game at home (February 25), Of course, there is always the matter of pride and momentum creation, a couple of heady concepts that are not always brought to the table. ("You've got to be kidding me". - random fan) Anyway, the two differing mindsets showed as the Lions sprinted out to leads in the 1st and 2nd quarter under the auspices of Ruach, Tyndale & Company finishing the half in front, 42-36. At halftime we all gave thanks to some last minute heroics from our side and last minute flubs from the bad guys, otherwise the spread would have been much more than six. 

In the second half everybody woke up from the bus trip (we just pulled in from our previous night's game in Sudbury), including Joey who went 22/8 in the half. Can you imagine the nightmares Tom Oivera, York Assistant Coach, is now having, as he was one of Joey's teachers in high school at Brebeuf College. Alright already enuff talk about Joey, how about that above the rim off the backboard to beyond the 3-point line block that N'Krumah Hylton put on outstanding Freshman David Tyndale. It was so highlight reeling emphatic that even Tyndale gave Hylton a low five. Of course, Tyndale came back next possession and hit a trey plus some self-congratulatory words he directed at Krums (pronounced Krooms). OK, four other things about Joey and then that's it. Nice dunk (That got Sal - Joey's Dad - off his feet arm extended in the air). Nice spin move to a power layin. Nice jump hook. Nice reverse layin off one bounce. In other words, true big man moves done with authority. 

Just in case you thought nobody else was in the game don't forget about the best player in the CIS, Boris Bakovic. He had a routine, for him, 25 & 12. York had no answer as the Bigs were too slow and the Smalls were too short. When he gets a look at the basket, which is whenever he wants, he is pretty hard to stop. He threw in a dunk in his repertoire against the Lions, something he has been doing regularly of late. Boris leads the CIS in scoring at 27.7 and would have even more if he wasn't such a team player. Did you know he is 7th all-time career scoring leader in the OUA after three seasons. The guys ahead of him all took 4 or 5 seasons to accumulate their points. First Team All-Canadian easy, except for that little thing called Politics. 

Those of you who have read this far will now know that the final score was, 92-83 for the Rams. Big shout out to Freshman Matthew Cupido (Hamilton Cathedral) three point specialist and team bon vivant simply b/c he asked for the ink. 

This was  Tut Ruach's last home game after five sterling seasons at York, including in his first year CIS  Rookie of the Year. We're glad we don't have to deal with his shyte anymore from the guard spot. Of course, York reloaded with Tyndale and things won't be any easier out there over the next four years. Tuts family were there fort the Senior Night presentations, including his sister who is worthy of mention b/c of her exuberant drumming, enthusiastic chanting and extravagant outfit....Good to see former Rams T.C. Cline and Philip Rowe in attendance. 

Eddie & Out

The team was over at Eddie's Restaurant for the pre-game in Sudbury before our game against the bottom dwelling Laurentian Voyageurs. Eddie tells Deefirst, "these guys look dead they're going to lose tonight." One of his customers told a couple of the guys to sit tall instead of slouching over looking like losers. Holy Geez, talk about predicting the future. Sure enough that night we gave it just enough gas to make it through the 40 minutes and come out on the wrong side of an, 85-80, score. This gives Laurentian hope that their mathematical chance to make the playoffs is still on the right track. Meanwhile, our chance of getting to third spot relies on the Voyageurs having back to back wins, beating U of T tonight. NOT going to happen. And us we get on the bus and head to York to redeem ourselves. 

Matas Trilis had 24 pts, 4 assists while his teammate, Paul Kovacs had 20 pts for the northeners. Our game plan was to stop these two guys, didn't really work. For us an ailing (cold) Boris Bakovic had 27 and 3 steals. Home-returning Josh Budd (sort of, Timmins is only three hours away) had 13 pts and 3 assists in 40 minutes of play. OK, we flatlined that game and now it is over and I'm out. 

Gee What Happened G?

We had our chances, but truth be known we just didn't know how to take advantage of those opportunities. Heck, we had it down to six in the 4th quarter when we let Freshman, Warren Ward sling two consecutive treys to the glee of his camera toting Dad. Now we are 12 down. Here's how the game went, tied the first quarter, lost the 2nd by 15, won the 3rd by 4 and lost the final stanza by 8. We're almost there, but not quite. Now we have less than three weeks to get there. Playoffs are just around the corner.

The game ended 89-70 in favour of the Ottawa Gee Gees. It was an exciting game with a number of dunks, dunk blocks and long distance shooting. One memorable play was 6'3" Akin Brown blocking 6'8" Dax Dessureault's attempted dunk at the end of the 1st half. Another was Josh Budd's spin dribble in the paint that led to a reverse layin. I am sure the Gee Gees had some highlight reels also, but I can't seem to able to bring them readily forward in my memory bank. Boris had 26 & 9. Josh and N'Krumah both had a dozen. JGB had 23, 6 dimes and 4 steals for the enemy. Ward, the Brampton fella, playing in front of his fam for the first time this season had 18. Dax also had 18.

Scott Belasco, Godfrey Hunte, Duane Quashie and Ricky Gairey were former Rams seen in the crowd of a little over two hundred. My former bone crusher, Dr. David Lee, was also in amongst the masses attending the game. 

Three games to go with Laurentian, York and U of T in that batting order. Then, whether we finish 3rd or 4th we will host a first round playoff game on Wednesday, February 25. 

Big Up to Greg Francis for getting the coaching headship at University of Alberta. My money says he'll do a great job out there. Another product of the GTA in a head coaching position in the CIS. The others: Dave DeVeiro, Ottawa (Harvey); Ross Quackenbush, St. Mary's (Thistletown); Mike Katz, Toronto (Vaughan Road); Keith Vassel, Brandon (Mother Teresa); Glenn Taylor, Ryerson (Brampton Centennial).

 

Learn From Your Mistakes. NOT!!

Carleton came into Dodge last night and it was a slaughter at the KH Gym. The Rams started out strong with Josh Budd hitting a couple of big shots - now if he would just hit the books with that kind of determination. Boris Bakovic got in on the act early joining Budd with a basket of his own, but if truth be known it wasn't a clean one with the ball bouncing around the rim b4 going in. Maybe if it had gone in clean Boris would have got the vibe he needed on this night. Josh ended up with 14 points and Boris had 23 after that the crew dropped off considerably. Stuart Turnbull had 23 for the Ravens and the much improved post, Kevin McCleery had 18 & 9 boards. 

Over three hundred at the game. Our biggest turnout of the year. Sorry to disappoint. We were in sync and playing modestly well, as our 14 turnovers indicate. The problem was that that was not good enough against this opponent. It was like taking a Ford Focus and racing it against a Lamborghini. The Focus can do everything right and it still is not going to win the race. We're definitely going to have to retune in time for the playoffs. Actually, it would probably be good to retune for tonight as we take on the #3 ranked Ottawa Gee Gees. Pfft, done. More to come on that. 

Akin Brown, 6'3", F, Brampton made his Ryerson debut. As a matter of fact it was his all time debut period, as he had never played post secondary ball. He muscled in for 5 pts, 1 steal, 1 bound and 17 minutes of solid defense.... Brandon Krupa, 2004-2008 was honoured on Seniors Night for his contributions to the program as a co-captain and solid combo guard with exceptional perimeter shooting skills. His parents Ed & Bev (same last name) were there as they were everytime over Brandon's four year career. Some of his former teammates also showed including Pete Crack, Sanel, Geoff Proctor, Duane Benjamin and  Brady.... Thanks to high school coaches Branko Samsa, Mel Stein & Brian French for coming out to the game and bringing some of their star players.  

Big Up to B Lo who I understand had some bad heart palpitations  the other day. Bill hope you are feeling better. Probably a good thing you weren't at this game. Yes you are right Hell does not freeze over. 

Ho Hum Agin

101-68 that was the final score and somewhere between those two numbers was the number of people watching the game between Ryerson and RMC. It was over before it started, but I got to give kudos to the Cadets they are an ever improving team. They are young and a couple of recruits could make them competitive next year. Boris almost had a triple double 27, 14 & 8 steals. Ryan McNeilly started this game the same way as the previous against Queen's by draining a trey. He is becoming quite skilled at that task, as a matter of fact he leads the country in 3FG%. He finished with 18 pts. Forki had a magical 16. Corey May had 10 agin.

This weekend we play Carleton at home on Friday night. then the next night we play Ottawa. Carleton is #1 and Ottawa #3 in the country. However there is something crazy happening in the air and don't be surprised if we take both games from these unsuspecting foes. If you are in the area drop by the games you could see history in the making.