Volume 53 — Issue 23 — March 18, 1993
WOW! As in Western Ontario Walloped. The final score was 88-48 in last Saturday’s OUAA championship game, the Wilson Cup, played March 13. However, the significance of this game, since both teams had already qualified for the nationals, was a chance to move up in the seeding for the March 19-21 national tournament.
But first about the game. Upon walking into Montpetit Hall last Saturday one was greeted with a conflict of impressions. The first was the Western Mustangs who won the OUAA West by beating the giants at McMaster and Guelph.
Yet the second thought that entered the mind when seeing the team in purple was “What is the high school team doing warming up?” But that was the Western team in its incredibly ill-fitting shorts.
In this day of shorts to the knee and satin and mesh blends, the team’s polyester shorts were somewhat amusing. So was its play.
But of its play, there is not really much to comment on. Western could not hit the open shots, rebound or much less stop the Gees. The Gees shot an incredible 36 of 65 from the floor, they out rebounded UWO 43-25 and they were a plus seven in the turnover department. And in the end they were victorious in the “tilted floor score of the night,” the largest margin of victory in a Wilson Cup.
The real business begins March 20 in Halifax. First round match up for the Gee-Gees will be the number two seeded Winnipeg Wesmen. The key to an Ottawa victory will be pressuring the Winnipeg guards, not allowing them to dump the ball into the post. Down low Winnipeg has two big men Norm Frommel and Jeff Foreman at 7’0″ and 6’8″,
“Winnipeg has a big team but we have to outwork them and use our athleticism to overcome the size differential, ” captain Rod Lee commented.
If successful the next opponent will be the winner of Calgary versus St. Francis Xavier. For coach Jack Eisenmann what team the Gees will play in the next round is a moot issue. In fact he does not really care. With “no team that is dominating” in Halifax, Eisenmann said he was content to play either team.
Guard Dave Reid agreed, “At Christmas there were teams that were dominating but now there is no one team. It all comes down to execution, conditioning and team harmony.”
Lee assessed the Gees chances realistically. “If we play to 100 per cent of our capabilities, we have a legitimate chance to win the whole thing. The key is to play three days of basketball, firing on all cylinders. There is no opportunity for recovery or lapses. Three wins and we are national champions,” said Lee.
Unless you bleed garnet and grey you would have to be somewhat pessimistic of the team’s chances. Talent wise, the Gees will run into some tough matchups.
But the Gees right now are starting to peak in two areas that have taken many a Cinderella team to a championship: defense and shooting.
What was impressive in the Westem win was the defense. Not much the man to man defense, but the effort away from the ball. Against better players this will only have to continue.
What has also been encouraging in the playoffs has been the retrieval of the team’s shooting touch. Bobby Brown, first and foremost amongst them.
If Eisenmann can continue to get that kind of production out of Brown it will only open the floor for the slashing moves of Reid and Lee. And with Lee may rest the team’s chances. Lee has assumed a less explosive role on this year’s team.
The games where Lee was required to score 25 points a game for the team to have a chance of winning are over. But in these upcoming games having a hot hand that is capable of leading a team to victory is a nice trump card to hold.
It is ironic then that a jump shot might lift this team of defensive stoppers and rebounders to victory.
About this Article
The 1993 Wilson Cup victory was the first in the history of the program. In 2014, the Gees would win their second, 78-77, over the Carleton Ravens at TMU (the OUA Final Four was then played at a neutral site).
All-time program scoring leader Johnny Berhanemeskel was the hero then, delivering a win for the Gee-Gees with a last-second make. The upset over Carleton was the first against the perennial powerhouse since 2007. One year later, Berhanemeskel would become the program’s first ever national player of the year.
In 2023, the Gees would pick up their third Wilson Cup, this time by upsetting the Ravens across town.
Riding an 18-game win streak, the Gee-Gees now have an opportunity to win at Montpetit for the first time in 32 years.
