“We’re working together as a team … everybody eats”
Laurentian Voyageurs guard Shawn Barthelemy started the game hot, knocking down four three-pointers in the first quarter of Saturday afternoon’s game against the Gee-Gees, but the Gees weren’t fazed.
Though Laurentian used those threes, along with two from Barthelemy’s backcourt partner Nginyu Ngala, to jump out to a 22-16 lead after the first quarter, there never seemed to be a feeling of panic in Gee-Gees land — sorry, Montpetit Hall.
“The thing about basketball is that we talk about it so much — as an anecdote — [as] a game of runs,” said Gee-Gees head coach James Derouin after the game. “But then, we’re always so surprised when there’s a run. They came out on fire … nothing against Laurentian, but no team can keep that going. I had faith in our guys that they could steady it.”
And steady it the Gee-Gees did. There seemed to be nothing they could do wrong for the rest of the game. After ending the first quarter 2-of-8 from deep, the team went 11-of-22 the rest of the game, led by four from Ankit Choudhary, three from Dragan Stajic, and two-apiece from Justin Ndjock-Tadjore, Jacques-Mélaine Guemeta, and Owen Kenney.
Guemeta led the way offensively for the team, pouring in 23 points overall, but Ndjock-Tadjore (19), Choudhary (16) and Stajic (14) all had big — and maybe more importantly — efficient performances themselves.
Stajic, who missed 11 out of the team’s first 12 games to injury, has been electric since his return. Saturday’s game was the fourth in a row in which he reached double digits, and in the 11 games that he has played this year, he is shooting 50.6 per cent from the field and 54.1 per cent from long range — both career highs by far.
“My teammates and coaching staff did a great job of putting me in the right positions [coming back from injury],” said Stajic after the game. “Sharing the ball together, running the right plays, we’re working together as a team … everybody eats, and I’m just a part of that equation.”
The Waterloo native picked up two of the team’s 14 steals on the evening and finished the weekend averaging 2.7 per game — also a career high. “Since I came here, the minute I arrived on campus, we preached defence,” said Stajic, who is in his fifth and final season with the program.
“From my first year to my fifth year … that’s our identity, that’s what we want to be, we want to start on the defensive end and set the tempo there and then let the rest of our game come with that.”
Derouin agrees, calling the team’s defence the “core” of the group. “I don’t know where we rank defensively, but it’s the energy, that they’re able to crank it up, [Stajic], obviously, the head of the snake with his steals and his energy, [forward Brock Newton] in the switches. They take that [scoreboard] personally, you can see that. They got 20 points, and to hold them to 60, with 20 after whatever it was, five minutes, pretty impressive. A really, really, special group.”
For Stajic, playing with backcourt partner Choudhary is already familiar, though they’ve only played 11 games together in garnet and grey. Stajic and Choudhary were also backcourt partners for a season at Canada Topflight Academy, an Ottawa-area prep school which competes against American prep schools.
“We’ve had a close bond,” said Stajic. “We’ve kept in touch throughout the years, I’m blessed to be able to share the court again with him, he’s a great teammate, a great friend and I’m blessed to be playing with him again.”
The OUA Gauntlet Ahead
The Gee-Gees can’t afford to rest on an 11-game win streak. Ahead lie two matchups apiece with the #6 ranked Queen’s Gaels (the first this Friday, 8 p.m. at Montpetit), the #19 ranked Ontario Tech Ridgebacks (the first this Saturday, 5 p.m.) and a Capital Hoops date with the #8 ranked Carleton Ravens.
Throw the 14-2 Lakehead Thunderbirds, the 13-3 Brock Badgers (who the Gee-Gees lost to earlier this year), and the 10-6 TMU Bold (who have upset Carleton and Ontario Tech) into the mix, and road to the Wilson Cup looks like it’s shaping up to be a bloodbath.
Stajic says that the Queen’s game has been circled on the team’s calendar. “With the new additions and the guys coming back [from injury], we feel like we have a great group. We’re gearing up for a playoff run here … we have a tough schedule coming up and we’re looking forward to the test, to the battle, that’s what we live for, we work all year for these kinds of games, so we’re just getting ready for those and looking forward to it.”
“There’s some history [with Queen’s], obviously you know, we lost all three against them last year,” said Derouin. “They’re a different team this year. They’re a full-court pressing machine this year, so that’ll be different.”
Derouin is confident that the team’s veteran leadership can take the challenges one step at a time leading up to the first weekend of playoffs. “I think we just have to remind ourselves that whatever bumps in the road, that you gotta be good that weekend, and we’re trying to keep that in perspective.
Tickets for the team’s showdown against Queen’s are available here, starting at $7 dollars for students.
