SIX PLAYERS IN DOUBLE DIGITS AS GEE-GEES DOMINATE LAKERS
For basketball fans in Ottawa, the Gee-Gees teams have only been seen on the back of a milk carton for months. The men hit the road after an 81-45 win over Guelph on Nov. 23 and have only been back for a lone exhibition game since.
When the Gees left town, they were ranked 10th in the country, but after rattling off six more wins in a row, they entered Friday’s matchup against Nipissing Lakers ranked fifth. The Gee-Gees would handle the Lakers easily with a 98-62 drubbing.
“The guys were so excited, even me, it felt like the home opener today,” Gee-Gees head coach James Derouin said after the game. “That’s unfortunate scheduling, [for] our fans it’s hard to stay connected to the team … but it did bring a lot of buzz to today, and our guys really feed off playing at home in front of this crowd.”
And feed the Gee-Gees did. Although the fans had good reason to check out of the game with the Gees going up by 20 by the second quarter and never looking back, a huge Dragan Stajic-to-Brock Newton alley-oop and an Owen Kenney poster brought them off their feet, each time forcing Nipissing to call a timeout as the crowd roared.
For the Gee-Gees, it’s only been two months since they’ve played a meaningful game in the dark, but friendly, confines of Montpetit Hall, but for guard Khalifa Koulamallah, it’s been 11 months. Koulamallah joined Stajic and Kenney in double digits, three of six Gee-Gees overall who reached the mark.
The Gatineau native went down with a lower-body injury before the season started and joined the team after the Christmas break. “It feels amazing to be back with my teammates on the court,” said Koulamallah after the game, who finished with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including two three-pointers.
Koulamallah adds a different dimension to the Gee-Gees. The 6’4” guard can play up and down the lineup, in multiple positions — including guard and forward. “He’s just being a veteran out there,” said Derouin, acknowledging that the season is obviously not what Koulamallah hoped for coming in but that he is making the most out of it.
“He’s playing smart, under control, obviously he shoots it so well, but he handles it [too], there’s a different Khalifa this year, he just feels like a veteran leader out there.” Derouin pointed at Koulamallah’s stepback near the end of the second quarter — which came after scoring eight points in a row for the team — as an example of the guard’s unique talent.
“When you can bring something like that off the bench … that kid starts on 80 per cent, 90 per cent of the teams in the division. Huge addition getting him back, and obviously we’re just super happy for him too, crazy, crazy injury that could have been way worse, and to come back this year and play this well is awesome.”
The Gee-Gees, now holding a 10-game win streak, welcome the 7-9 Laurentian Voyageurs in a sold-out matchup Saturday at 5 p.m. Next weekend, it’s #6 Queen’s.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve played at home,” said Koulamallah. “It’s good to play in front of our crowd when the shots go in, people are cheering for us, it’s been a long road trip. We’re super excited for Queen’s, we gotta take care of Laurentian tomorrow and then we start focusing on Queen’s and Ontario Tech.”
