Queen’s Golden Gaels regained a measure of respectability Saturday night.
A day after they were humbled 114-45 by the No. 1-ranked Carleton Ravens, the Gaels made a better showing in a 91-81 loss to the No. 2-ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees at the Athletics and Recreation Centre.
Patrick Street led Queen’s with 22 points, while freshman Tanner Graham added 17. Cy Samuels contributed 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Johnny Berhanemeskel, with 24 points, and Mike L’Africain, with 18, led Ottawa.
Though they fell to 5-12, the Gaels outscored the visitors 54-41 in the second half.
It was a far cry from the dreadful performance of Friday night, when Queen’s was playing without its top scorer, fifth-year man Greg Faulkner. The Gaels shot just 30 per cent from the field; they committed 21 turnovers, and they were out-rebounded 42-23. Carleton, the four-time defending national champion, led 58-21 at halftime.
As it easily posted its 14th win in 16 games this year, Carleton capitalized on an amazing display of ineptitude by the Gaels in the third quarter. The Ravens scored the first 23 points of the second half, taking the lead to 81-21; meanwhile, the Gaels missed their first 11 attempts from the field, and they didn’t score a basket until more than six minutes had been played in the third quarter.
Six players reached double figures for Carleton, led by Gavin Resch, with 21 points, Connor Wood, with 21, and Guillaume Boucard, who came off the bench to score 17 points and grab nine rebounds.
Sukhpreet Singh led Queen’s with 12 points.
The Gaels will conclude their season next week in Toronto, with games against Ryerson on Friday and Toronto on Saturday.
•
Queen’s women, meanwhile, had their own disappointing performance Saturday, as they dropped a 60-51 decision to Ottawa.
In winning their fourth game in a row, and their eighth in 10 games since Christmas, the Gee-Gees took advantage of some poor Queen’s shooting (33.3 per cent from the field) and some hospitality on the part of the home team: 30 Queen’s turnovers, which the Gee-Gees happily turned into 22 points.
Such statistics helped to explain the Gaels’ fourth loss in their last six games, as they fell to 10-7, still good for second place in the East division going into the final weekend of the season.
Liz Boag and Abby Dixon scored 11 points apiece for Queen’s, which led 22-19 after a low-scoring first half, remarkable for the fact that Ottawa is the highest-scoring team in the East division and Queen’s is the sixth-highest scoring team in the province.
Stephanie MacDonald scored 21 points for Ottawa, which improved to 12-5.
Down 39-34 to start the fourth quarter, the Gaels succumbed to a 12-4 Ottawa run at the beginning of the final period, a stretch fueled by four Queen’s turnovers.
After a game with Ryerson, 15-3, on Friday night, the Gaels will face Toronto in their final game Saturday. Queen’s goes into the final weekend with a two-point lead over the third-place Blues.
