Ottawa drops Friday game to Laurentian but redeem themselves by beating Nippissing in North Bay on Saturday
The University of Ottawa men’s basketball team dropped their first game back from the break to the Laurentian Voyageurs 78-65 on Friday. The next night, the Gee-Gees were in North Bay to tip-off against the Nipissing Lakers.
Earlier this season, the Gee-Gees defeated the Lakers 86-71 at home.
Nipissing led 7-1 before Calvin Epistola drove in for a nice two-pointer, but the Lakers’ defence continued to stop the Gee-Gees from creating scoring chances.
With 4:38 left in the opening quarter, the Gees trailed 15-9.
The Lakers stayed ahead, leading 25-18 after the opening 10 minutes.
Sean Stoqua opened up the second quarter when he found the basket from behind the three-point line.
Ottawa’s Borys Minger tied the game at 27 with an easy layup with seven minutes to play in the first half.
Just seconds later, Minger hit a three-pointer to give the Gee-Gees their first lead of the game.
Moving quickly, a defensive rebound turned into another two points for the Gees to make it 32-28.
The Lakers took the lead back with a mix of free-throws and three-pointers.
With a minute remaining in the half, Gees centre Marlon Kordrostami tied the game at 38.
This time, the Gee-Gees took the lead and held onto it right to the end of the half.
With 44-38 for the U of O on the board, the teams were back out for the third quarter.
Halfway through the quarter, Quinton Hamilton hit a three-pointer to put the Gees up 50-46. Just seconds later, he was sent to the foul line where he made both free-throw attempts.
Nipissing did not let the game slip away, with Girece Kazumba putting up a three-pointer late in the quarter to make it 53-52 for the U of O.
With one quarter left to play, the Gee-Gees had a 7 point lead with 59-52 on the scoreboard.
A three-pointer by Guillaume Pepin put the U of O up 65-52, extending the gap to 13 points.
The U of O continued to add to the board, putting up 31 points in the final quarter while holding Nipissing to only 13.
Pepin put up 18 points for the Gee-Gees. Kordrostami added 15 points and 9 rebounds, and Hamilton put up 11 points.
The Gee-Gees took the game 90-65, improving their record to 10-3.
The Gee-Gees will be back at Montpetit Hall for the first time this semester to take on Queen’s University and Ontario Tech University back to back on Jan. 17 and 18.
Men’s basketball team by the numbers
The Good: The Gee-Gees lead the OUA in offensive rebounds per game with an average of 14.5
The Ok: The Gees are sixth in the OUA with a 71.6 per cent from the free-throw line
The Bad: Ottawa has a record of 5-8 in the first quarter of games this season
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