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Mustangs fall short on home opening game 61-77
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| #20 Adam Vandervoort |
11/10/2012 9:58:00 AM
The Western Mustangs men's basketball team hosted a tough Ottawa University squad in the highly anticipated home opener last night, former OUA semi-finalists. In a tough battle, the Mustangs fell short, losing to the Ottawa Gee Gees with a final score 61-77. The team played a competitive, rivaled game overall, but could not contain the powerful University of Ottawa offense.
In the first few minutes of the game, Ottawa managed to control the pace on both ends of the court. Ottawa created opportunities off of the fast break and in many cases caught the Mustangs off guard.
The Mustangs fought back, executing offensive plays to a tee while creating off ball opportunities. Excellent shooting from Greg Morrow gave the Mustangs the advantage they needed to obtain a first quarter lead.
The first quarter concluded with the Mustangs clinching a two point lead over Ottawa University.
The second quarter started out with a bang as Morrow showed the crowd his vertical abilities in a tip dunk off of a missed layup. This spark of energy gave the Mustangs the motivation they needed to overcome the Gee Gee’s. Tight defense from the Mustangs frustrated Ottawa, leading to forced turnovers and bad passing decisions.
Precision shooting from behind the arc was crucial in the Mustangs' success in the second quarter. Co-captain Quinn Henderson was especially strong from outside and Greg Morrow continued to disrupt the Ottawa defense. Tensions began to escalate in the second quarter leading to a very physical game. Ottawa claimed the second quarter, but only three points ahead at 38-35.
In the third, Henderson made two clutch three pointers, which energized the Mustang squad. Unfortunately, the speed of Ottawa University was uncontrollable. The Gee Gees continued to maintain a fast pace game, fast breaking at every opportunity. Before the Mustangs knew it, the team found themselves down to a game-high nine points.
Full court pressure from the Ottawa Gee Gee’s flustered the Mustang guards -- leading to unforced errors. The third quarter ended with a score of 48-60 in favour of the Ottawa Gee Gee’s.
The Mustangs took to the court in the fourth quarter determined to make a comeback. Peter Scholtes found his touch and began to make key shots. Western was more aggressive defensively and successful boxing out from the Mustang post players led to many offensive and defensive rebounds. Unfortunately the Ottawa Gee Gee’s still found success on both ends of the court and were too much for the Mustangs to handle.
This 61-77 loss is a more competitive score than the matchup result between these two teams last season.
Head Coach Brad Campbell commented on where they went wrong. “The other team executed better. They disrupted our offense and beat us on the glass.”
Moving forward to Saturday's game against Carleton, Campbell said “we will need to commit to the defensive rebound, which is the strength of Carleton and battle for each possession.”
The team prepares for the second game of the home opening weekend double header against Carleton University. Tip off is 8:00pm at Alumni Hall on Saturday, November 10.
In the first few minutes of the game, Ottawa managed to control the pace on both ends of the court. Ottawa created opportunities off of the fast break and in many cases caught the Mustangs off guard.
The Mustangs fought back, executing offensive plays to a tee while creating off ball opportunities. Excellent shooting from Greg Morrow gave the Mustangs the advantage they needed to obtain a first quarter lead.
The first quarter concluded with the Mustangs clinching a two point lead over Ottawa University.
The second quarter started out with a bang as Morrow showed the crowd his vertical abilities in a tip dunk off of a missed layup. This spark of energy gave the Mustangs the motivation they needed to overcome the Gee Gee’s. Tight defense from the Mustangs frustrated Ottawa, leading to forced turnovers and bad passing decisions.
Precision shooting from behind the arc was crucial in the Mustangs' success in the second quarter. Co-captain Quinn Henderson was especially strong from outside and Greg Morrow continued to disrupt the Ottawa defense. Tensions began to escalate in the second quarter leading to a very physical game. Ottawa claimed the second quarter, but only three points ahead at 38-35.
In the third, Henderson made two clutch three pointers, which energized the Mustang squad. Unfortunately, the speed of Ottawa University was uncontrollable. The Gee Gees continued to maintain a fast pace game, fast breaking at every opportunity. Before the Mustangs knew it, the team found themselves down to a game-high nine points.
Full court pressure from the Ottawa Gee Gee’s flustered the Mustang guards -- leading to unforced errors. The third quarter ended with a score of 48-60 in favour of the Ottawa Gee Gee’s.
The Mustangs took to the court in the fourth quarter determined to make a comeback. Peter Scholtes found his touch and began to make key shots. Western was more aggressive defensively and successful boxing out from the Mustang post players led to many offensive and defensive rebounds. Unfortunately the Ottawa Gee Gee’s still found success on both ends of the court and were too much for the Mustangs to handle.
This 61-77 loss is a more competitive score than the matchup result between these two teams last season.
Head Coach Brad Campbell commented on where they went wrong. “The other team executed better. They disrupted our offense and beat us on the glass.”
Moving forward to Saturday's game against Carleton, Campbell said “we will need to commit to the defensive rebound, which is the strength of Carleton and battle for each possession.”
The team prepares for the second game of the home opening weekend double header against Carleton University. Tip off is 8:00pm at Alumni Hall on Saturday, November 10.
Game Day: vs Ottawa U 8pm
Mustangs take on Ottawa U tonight in the opening night of OUA regular season action. Game time is 8pm at Alumni Hall. The game is also webcast live at 8pm on Mustangs TV.
http://www.ssncanada.ca/game/4465/
http://www.ssncanada.ca/game/4465/
91 Team Inducted Today
Congratulations to the 1991 Mustangs National Championship Team will be inducted into the London Sports Hall of Fame this evening in a ceremony at the Western Fair District.
Link to info CLICK HERE
The 2012 inductees are:
- Ken Buchan (athlete modern) Curling
- Shawn Tompkins (builder/founder modern) Mixed Martial Arts
- Jason Tunks (athlete modern) discuss throw
- Larry Haylor (builder/founder modern)football
- Don Getty (athlete legend) football
- Ian Sinclair (athlete modern) football
- Earl Ross (athlete legend) stock car driver
- 1991 Western Mustangs (team) mens basketball
- Don Cline (builder/founder modern) basketball
- Lady Lillian Ottaway Beck (athlete legend) equestrian
Today's Article From The London Free Press
University basketball staying young
Gregory Morrow tries to get past Anthony Spiridis during Western Mustangs men's basketball practice at Alumni Hall on Monday. (DEREK RUTTAN, The London Free Press)
The Western Mustangs men’s basketball team has already accomplished something that would have seemed impossible last year.
It got younger.
Last year’s team had a slew of first-year players, some second years and one veteran, guard Ryan Barbeau in his fifth year.
Predictably with so many young players, the Mustangs struggled. They got better as the season progressed and made a late run for a playoff spot, but came up short, finishing the season with an 8-14 record.
“The issue even with Ryan, we were one of the youngest teams in the country,” Mustangs coach Brad Campbell said. “But now with Ryan graduating and bringing in some rookies, we are even younger than we were last year. During a recent trip to Calgary it just kind of sunk in. We went to Calgary and we travelled with 12 guys and 10 of those 12 were in first or second year and the other two were in their third year. It kind of sinks in, that ‘Wow, that’s pretty young.’ ”
It didn’t help the Mustangs last year when they picked up injuries, including to one of their only big players, six-foot-eight forward Adam Jesperson, who was out for most the season.
This season, he’s struggling with a concussion. It’s been a frustrating couple of years for him.
“I think if you took a skeleton out and pointed to every part of it, he’s had injuries on every part of it,” Campbell said.
When you are young and don’t have a lot of size, the loss of a big player makes a huge difference.
Campbell did go out and recruit another big player, Port Perry native Andrew Van Camp, a six-foot-nine centre who attended Kiski prep school in Pittsburgh.
Van Camp also is injured and has been in a walking boot for two weeks with a stress fracture in his foot. He was reassessed Monday.
“He’s a very highly touted recruit,” Campbell said. “He’s a little raw but he has the potential to be an outstanding player in our league.”
The Mustangs open their OUA season Friday against Ottawa and then take on Carleton on Saturday, both games are at Alumni Hall.
Their lack of overall size limits what the Mustangs can do.
“We’re similar to last year especially without Jesperson and Van Camp in the lineup,” Campbell said. “We’re playing a little bit of small ball. We do have some guards with some size. Our overall size isn’t too bad, our big positions we are small at right now.”
The Mustangs have another issue. While they may have potential, they don’t have a lot of natural scorers outside of Peter Scholtes.
“We’ve got to play great defence,” Campbell said. “One of our issues is scoring. Scholtes is our only real proven scorer. We are trying to find that second or third option that can be consistent. We are a defensive-minded team anyway, but we have to play good defence and the scores are going to have to be relatively low overall for us to be successful.”
Success will also depend on just how much his younger players developed from last year.
“There’s Scholtes of course and Greg Morrow has made some great strides,” Campbell said. “Ryan Higgins (a 6-foot-4 guard) is in his second year and we are going to have to rely on him.
“We are one of those teams obviously that’s not very experienced and we’re very young at the same time. We don’t have those one or two superstars right now that other teams have. We have to rely on our depth and be very team oriented.”
Aggie Basketball Is Back!
Well it is the start to another year of Aggie basketball! It is an exciting time of year with college football in full effect and college basketball starting up. A big shout out to the Aggie football team so far this year - Let’s keep the wins coming! As for this year’s basketball team, we are all very optimistic at the chance we have to be a good team. Summer and fall workouts were a huge benefit as we had most of the guys in Logan. It has been great getting to know all of the new guys and being able to work on our team chemistry on the court. Practices so far have been good, there is competition everyday which will only make us better. Everyone is together and buying in to the system which will benefit us greatly. The first game has snuck up on us pretty quick but we are all excited and ready to play.
I think it is fair to speak for everyone when I say that we have all worked hard on our games this summer. Getting in the weight room has been a huge emphasis with us, but also developing our games on the court. It was good for me to be able to go back to Oregon and get a full summer under my belt lifting and getting shots up. We hope that we can all have fun playing basketball together while giving the fans a good show! Go Aggies!
-- Danny Berger
Eureka 85 Mustangs 72
Eureka Red Devils too hot for Stangs, take exhibition game 85-7210/20/2012 11:38:00 PM The Western Mustangs men`s basketball team welcomed the Eureka College Red Devils -- an NCAA Division III team from Eureka, Illinois -- on Saturday in pursuit of its first home victory for this exhibition season. Depsite a strong start, the Mustangs faced injury and team chemistry trouble as the game progressed and finished 13 points behind with a 85-72 final score to the Red Devils.Eureka College is the third NCAA team Western has hosted this year, dropping games against South Alabama and Trine University earlier in the pre-season. Four Mustangs putting up double digit point totals in tonight`s game, but the veteran experience took command throughout and resulted in the Mustangs` loss.The Mustang guards came out running and created opportunities off the fast break. Peter Scholtes accompanied the backcourt with strong inside play and finished the first quarter with a solid ten points. The Mustangs maintained resilience and contested against the Red Devil`s veteran offence for the first fifteen, even without strong defensive play. The opening quarter ended in a 24 point tie.The Red Devils went up a costly ten points at the start of the second quarter, where Mustang miscommunication caused several turnovers and allowed for the Eureka Red Devils to go up on the scoreboard. Western knew they needed to regroup and adjust in order to seize their full potential. Continued pressure from the Red Devils squad resulted in a first half score of 47-34 in favour of Eureka College.The second half began with a quick three-pointer from Mustang Ryan Higgins off of an assist from teammate Quinn Henderson. Great outside shooting from Jacob Hutchcroft gave Western the kick they needed to cut the deficit. Even though an improved offensive presence was evident in the third quarter, it was no match for the Red Devils` accurate shooting. The third quarter ended with a score of 47-70.The Mustangs had work cut out for them at the start of the fourth quarter. Jacob Hutchcroft continued to play well on both sides of the court, making two jumpers and a three pointer off the bench. Scholtes, who started off the game strong in the post, was sidelined by injury in the second half and unable to factor into a comeback.Western continued to play hard until the final minutes and cut Eureka`s lead, but fell short to the Red Devils, who outshot the `Stangs the entire game. Mustang Charlie Drouin played extremely well and racked up 14 points, three rebounds and one assist.Following the game, head coach Brad Campbell gave insight into what went wrong. “We were completely out executed. We were taken advantage of from a veteran team,`` he said. ``We got beat during off ball action and were poor in anticipating and seeing what was happening.”The Mustangs are back to the drawing board but have chances to rebound before the regular season starts in November. Western takes on fellow American school Ashland University from Ashland, Ohio next. The NCAA Division II squad will challenge at Alumni Hall on Monday, October 22 at 7pm.
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