Clutch & Grab in Bartlett Gym

It didn't take long to get things going against the Queen's Golden Gaels Full Contact Jujitsu Team on a crisp winter Friday night in the old Upper Canada capital of Kingston. We had a 10-0 lead to start, but then again we had the same against Duquesne a couple of years ago and that got us nowhere, but a big L. However, this time things are different. Much different.  First  of all junior forward/combo guard Ryan McNeilly starts the game off with three treys and our 9-0 lead. Then Boris Bakovic, the CIS leading scorer decides that it is time to show his stuff, we're talking 24 points at halftime, 36 points with 2 minutes to go in the third quarter. He never saw anymore of the floor. He even got long time Queen's heckler, Jeff Smith, to leave the game early. Before leaving the bellow-lunged, white haired Smith pleaded with Boris to, "take it easy on us Boris". Bakovic was showing some range shooting treys from NBA distance, but the best was his steal (1 of 4) off a hapless dribbler which turned into a swing-from-the-rim dunk. This was the 5th game in a row for Boris to top 30 points. Can we say First Team All-Canadian. 

At halftime da  Rams possessed a 27 point lead, 53-26, and in line for their 4th game in a row scoring more than 100 points. We started to unload the bench on the clutch-&-shove Gaels in the third quarter and our 22-17 effort gave us a 75 point total, still on track for the century mark. This included quality minutes by diminutive PG Arsalan "AJ" Jamil who earned his time with some focused hard work in practice all week long. About this time the 4th quarter came along, otherwise known as the disaster from the pines. Except 4 the much maligned & misunderstood triggerman, Teddy Tochev, nobody scored a point in the quarter. Make no mistake it wasn't easy for Trigger either, as he had to trade 6 trey trys to make one. So that was it, 78-60, at the end of the night and enough of a poor finish to send G4 into a tirade at the post game meeting. 

 We had a shoot-around in the afternoon b4 the game and it was a pretty loose affair mainly consisting of shooting games. This was a format that fit nicely into Corey "Hack-A-Gael" May's repertoire, as he won or hotly contested most of the games. In another bit of drama Forki attempted to unseat assistant coach Michael Kennedy as King of the 1 on 1. Afeworki's efforts were in vain as he was defeated again by the former 2x finalist of the popular Nike Battleground 1 on 1 contest. 

Wow, our home games next weekend are shaping up to be season-making tilts, as we take on the Number One ranked Carleton Ravens on Friday, February 6 in the Ivy covered (Of course, no sign of Ivy at this time of year) Kerr Hall Gymnasium. The next day we host the second ranked Ottawa Gee Gees. Both games are at 8 PM and something tells me those guys could be in for a surprise. Hope you can make it the entertainment and suspense will be unprecedented in the hallowed hall that Howard built.