Gees point guard Ankit Choudhary finished with game-high 24 points, five threes
96-95, Jan. 5. 89-88, Feb. 16. 84-77, March 9.
The Gee-Gees played the Queen’s Gaels three times last season — the most out of any opponent — and came up painstakingly short each time. But Friday night, the Gees were not going to be stopped, Queen’s full-court press or not.
“I was pretty confident that we could handle their press,” Gees head coach James Derouin said after the game. “13 turnovers against their press is pretty amazing,” added Derouin, noting that Queen’s had forced Laurentian into a staggering 37 just a few weeks ago.
Pretty amazing could be a descriptor of a lot of events that transpired at Montpetit Hall — probably with the exception of the officiating, which could be politely described as ‘inconsistent at best’. Though the Gees shooting fell off in the fourth quarter, they entered that final frame having already put up 83 points.
“I think we came ready,” said Gees forward Brock Newton. “They’re a high energy team and press all game, I think we came ready and expected that and shut it down early.” Newton finished with a game-high 12 rebounds, adding 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting and blocking two Gaels shots.
Newton said that once the Gees beat the press, their offence had a lot more room to work with. “I think just getting into that open space, that press can create a lot of turnovers — but it also gives room for gaps and for us to find guys. So I think, you know, just putting the ball in our playmakers’ hands and having them kick it out, that was the biggest key to the game today.”
Feed the hot hands
The Gee-Gees went down as many as seven in the first quarter, but they would respond decisively. Coming off the bench, third year wing Khalifa Koulamallah poured in back-to-back triples to bring the Gees within one at the end of the frame.
At the start of the second, it was forward Jacques-Mélaine Guemeta’s turn, as he made his own pair of triples: the first from the left break and the second from the right corner. The Gees attempted their most threes of the season so far (42 in total), with point guard Ankit Choudhary’s five makes on 14 attempts leading the way.
Koulamallah would finish three-of-six from deep on the night, as he recorded a season-high 15 points in his seventh game since returning from injury, adding five rebounds and four assists.
Kenney, meanwhile, would drain his two attempts from beyond the arc, including one late in the third quarter that stretched the Gee’s lead to 27, part of nine points on three-of-three shooting overall.
However, the rookie would foul out having played just 12 minutes with back-to-back fouls immediately after. Derouin took responsibility for Kenney’s foul-out, calling the decision to leave him on the floor a “miscue.”
“Look, [the bench] has been great, three or four games in a row,” Derouin said. “Khalifa’s been outstanding,” added the head coach, noting that with Koulamallah and guard Dragan Stajic back from injury the team is a “special group.”
An uncharacteristically quiet night from a Syllas brother
Lukas and Cole Syllas have defined Queen’s basketball for the past few seasons, leading the program to it’s first ever U SPORTS national championship in 2022, and then again for three straight seasons, culminating in a silver medal last year. Cole graduated last season and now plays professionally in Greece, but the younger Lukas remains at the helm of the proverbial ship.
Averaging over 17 points per game this year, Syllas had dipped into single digits just once this season — in a blowout win over Waterloo where the 6’2” guard played only 23 minutes. But Syllas finished with just eight points on Friday on 3-of-12 shooting, though he added seven rebounds, five assists, two steals, and a block.
Syllas looked dejected and frustrated all night, as his usually-pristine shooting touch was nowhere to be found. “He’s one of the best players in the country — I don’t think it’s even a question,” said Derouin after the game.
“He didn’t look super comfortable tonight, missed a couple of free throws early, and then looked like he was fighting it with the jump shot, which, you know, he’s shot the ball extremely well this year, but he’ll be much better at home in a couple weeks, I’m sure.”
Newton called Syllas a “priority” going into the matchup, but said the team didn’t do the same job on Gaels rookie guard Ollie Engen, who finished with 23 points, upping his average to 19.4 on the year.
The engravers might as well start carving Engen’s name into the Dr. Peter Mullins Trophy, awarded annually to the nation’s best rookie, as he leads the freshman class in that statistic by more than six points per game heading into Saturday’s games.
“[Engen] got it going early, but it’s best just to stay grounded, learning a scout you can’t get everything right, but I’m happy we shut [Syllas] down tonight.”
The Gee-Gees schedule doesn’t get any easier from here on out — they welcome the underdog Ontario Tech Ridgebacks — who upset the #8 Carleton Ravens while the Gaels and Gees battled — to Montpetit at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Looking ahead, next week is Capital Hoops at TD Place against those same Ravens, and then road dates with the Gaels and Ridgebacks. “I think we’re peaking at the right time,” said Newton.
“12 straight OUA wins, but all season we’ve been prepping for these trips right here,” said the forward. “Queen’s, [Ontario Tech], Carleton, Queen’s, [Ontario Tech]. It’s a big next five games, but we’ve just gotta be ready.”
