Gees enter nationals this week as favourites; look to extend 19-game winning streak
The Gee-Gees men’s basketball team made history on Saturday night at Montpetit Hall, earning their first Wilson Cup championship on home court since 1992-93. It was the second provincial championship in two hours for the program, with the women upsetting Carleton a short skate down the canal away.
It was certainly the night of a lifetime for Gee-Gees players, fans, parents, and personnel. Unfortunately for the men, the fan busses from the Ravens Nest holding over 100 Gees fans wouldn’t arrive to Montpetit Hall until late in the first quarter.
At that point, the Gees were down big — as many as 14 — with Queen’s vaunted attack led by Ollie Engen and Lukas Syllas draining four threes in the frame. But with the courtside seats now filled in a standing-room only Montpetit Hall, the Gees had their energy back.
The Gee-Gees and Gaels battled hard through every whistle. Two Gaels left the game due to injury, with only one returning as collisions and hard falls were in full stock on what at times appeared more like a hockey game than one played on the hardwood.
The Gees had cut the deficit to 47-40 by half and tied the game by the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter was all theirs, as they entered the endgame leading by double digits.
Of course, fouls abounded from a Queen’s team trying to extend the game, and each walk from the Gees end to the free throw line was another chance for a Gee-Gee to feed to crowd.
“MVP” chants took over the intimate gym as Dragan Stajic and Justin Ndjock-Tadjore took their respective turns at the charity stripe, and with 37 seconds left, the incomparable Brock Newton holstered his sword during his turn, to great reception from the near-1000 strong fans in attendance.
The win over Queen’s, the reigning OUA champion, was the second Wilson Cup championship in two years for head coach James Derouin’s squad.
It was the first Wilson Cup hosted by Ottawa since 2015; when the OUA Final Four was still played at a neutral site. That was the last time that Montpetit hosted the game.
Derouin calls that team arguably the Gees’ best ever. It’s easy to see why — it sported two U SPORTS Player of the Years in Mike L’Africain and Johnny Berhanemeskel.
Derouin says the semifinal loss to Windsor that year still haunts him as he reflected on finally winning the Wilson Cup at home in his fifteenth season in front of the Gees bench.
The head coach may have been rehashing some of those emotions as the Gaels jumped out to an early lead, but wasn’t hitting the panic button. “I knew that there was a lot of time left, that was running through my head,” said Derouin.
“They’ve watched our starts, obviously … I was happy that we stayed connected … I kind of felt like we were alright,” said Derouin, who added that the bench wasn’t clicking until Owen Kenney hit two threes near the end of the second and bench big Matt Smith swatted three Gaels shot attempts.
“I was a little bit concerned, because Queen’s does such a good job at rotating their subs,” said Derouin. “But I trusted the bench, and they responded … we were the fresher team at the end.”
Derouin said that pulling off the press and zone defence and staying home on Gaels role players was the key strategy change to claw back in the game.
“The crowd honestly was big, if we cut it to eight, they went nuts, and we cut it to six, they boosted us to make it feel like it was a tie game … the crowd carried us today for sure,” said Derouin.
“To do it here, to be able to go to our locker room, our office after the win, is just incredible,” said Derouin, adding that having dozens of alumni in the building tonight meant a lot. “Just a special night, that’s for sure.”
The win extends their program-best winning streak to 19 games as they presumably lock up the top-seed in this week’s U SPORTS Final 8 national championships at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver.
A career night for Justin Ndjock-Tadjore
On any given night, James Derouin has no idea who is going to step up and be the leader for the Gee-Gees.
The 2024-25 edition of the Gees is loaded with talent, from OUA First Team All-Star Dragan Stajic, OUA defensive player of the year and Second Team All-Star Jacques-Mélaine Guemeta, Third Team All-Star Ankit Choudhary, and 2024 Second Team All-Canadian Brock Newton.
But long before the Gees took the floor for Saturday’s Wilson Cup championship at Montpetit Hall against the Queen’s Gaels, Derouin had already figured out who would that leader was going to be.
“Justin has been locked in in practice,” said Derouin after the game. “That kid’s not an all star, just take that in. The last two games in the regular season, both playoff games, and now tonight — I thought before the kid wasn’t ready. But the kid is ready. Everyone steps up and that’s what makes this group special, but Justin’s just absolutely dialled.”
Ndjock-Tadjore, a 6’8” forward from Gatineau who bounced back from St. Bonaventure in the NCAA’s D-1 after 2022, finished with a game-and-career-high 29 points. All night long, his guard-like handles were on display, breaking press after press and flying past coverage for fast break buckets.
Ndjock-Tadjore was the spark the lit the powder keg that was Montpetit Hall as he led the Gees comeback to the early Queen’s lead. First, he dished to a wide-open Owen Kenney on the right break with just over four minutes to play in the second quarter, cutting the lead to one.
Threes from Stajic and another from Kenney would keep pace with the vaunted Queen’s attack, and then it was Ndjock-Tadjore’s turn again. A fastbreak dunk, which has quickly become the forward’s trademark, tied the game for the first time all evening, sending the crowd into a fit.
Just moments later, the Gatineau native would fadeaway on Gaels bench forward Lucas Ponting and hit a ridiculous spinning and-one bank shot which gave the Gees a lead which they would never relinquish.
“The guys, they trust me, they feed me well,” said Ndjock-Tadjore after the game. “I wanted the ball and I wanted to win.”
Ndjock-Tadjore was tasked with defending Lukas Syllas at times, and handled him and the rest of the Gaels effectively on the other end, collecting two blocks and a steal.
“I always say this, everything happens for a reason,” said Ndjock-Tadjore, reflecting on his time at St. Bonaventure and a redshirt season in 2022-23 where he was forced to watch the Gees from the sidelines for eligibility purposes.
“It might not have worked out at St. Bonaventure, but I’m just glad we won here at Ottawa in my hometown, it’s a great feeling.”
Though the beginning of the Gee-Gees season didn’t go exactly as planned, with early losses to Waterloo and Brock, Ndjock-Tadjore was confident that when Khalifa Koulamallah and Stajic returned from injury, this team was championship-bound.
“There was never a doubt in my mind that we couldn’t win this game,” Ndjock-Tadjore said. “Our goal is a national championship and that’s what we’re aiming for.”
Stajic writes a final chapter at Montpetit
Dragan Stajic has seen and done almost everything possible to accomplish in a Gee-Gees uniform. The 6’2” guard from Waterloo dazzles every time he touches the floor. It’s almost hard to cite a comparable player for the shifty guard.
His intelligence level running the point is not typically found in the confines of the OUA, with no-look passes, spin moves, and football throws down the court making you at times wonder if Jason Williams is enrolled at the University of Ottawa.
Stajic became the program’s all-time assists leader in Feb. 14’s win over the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks and was coming off back-to-back OUA Third Team All-Star nods and a 2023 U SPORTS National Championship Tournament All-Star selection.
Stajic had also improved his major knock from last year — three-point efficiency — almost two-fold, finishing the regular season at a career-high 50.9 per cent. He also completed his regular season tenure as the country’s all-time leader in assist to turnover ratio.
But there was one thing that Stajic was missing — a conference championship on home court. That came in storybook fashion on Saturday, with a final game at Montpetit Hall to remember.
Stajic fought for the words to describe what he was experiencing after the game, but landed on grateful and blessed.
“It’s a dream come true, from my first day on campus, you dream of winning an OUA championship at Montpetit, against your rivals. It was a storybook ending tonight and I’m super grateful for my teammates and everyone involved. It’s a special group and I’m so blessed to be a part of it.”
Stajic finished with 11 points on 2-of-5 shooting, all coming by way of the three. He added six rebounds, four steals, three assists, and turned the ball over just once, in a typical stat-sheet stuffing performance.
But after missing his first three-point attempt, a Stajic from a previous season might have stopped shooting.
“It’s a lot of pressure, a lot of emotions going on for sure, before the game,” said Stajic. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, the mindset is you have to keep going. I’ve been in these situations before where I miss the first shot and maybe I don’t shoot it again. I think I’ve learned a lot over the last couple years that you have to take the next one and make the next one.”
Stajic is excited for the national championships. The guard is no stranger to performing on the biggest stage — he’s knocked in 13 threes on 29 attempts as the Gees have won back-to-back bronzes, collecting a U SPORTS All-Star selection during the first run in 2023.
“The goal since day one has been to win a national championship,” said Stajic. “Obviously along the way we wanted to get the Wilson done, and everything that we’ve been doing has been great, but we know that the main goal is to win the national championship … we’re going to lock back in.”
A Monday flight to YVR
With the Diego Maffia-less Victoria Vikes losing in the Canada West (CW) semifinals on Feb. 28, the top-seed in the country belongs to the Gee-Gees. The action kicks off Thursday, as an eight-team bracket will battle for a national championship.
Rounding out the bracket are Queen’s (OUA finalist), Bishop’s (RSEQ champion), U PEI (AUS champion), Calgary (CW champion), Victoria, UBC (host), and an at-large berth for Concordia, who the Gee-Gees will play on Thursday at 5 p.m. EST.
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- Men leap out to 19-0 start, never look back in semifinal drubbing of TMU – The Fulcrum
- Gee-Gees earn second bronze in as many years at U SPORTS Final 8 – The Fulcrum
The Gee-Gees don’t particularly care what the selection committee decides. “We’ll play anybody,” said Derouin. “That’s not me, that’s [the team]. They haven’t been worried about the draw, they haven’t been worried about wildcards or anything, they’re like, ‘bring it.’”
Derouin said that even holding the 19-game win streak, they have doubters to prove wrong this week. The betting lines opened up with both UBC and Victoria as stronger favourites to take home a championship on March 16.
“What do we have to do, [19 in a row] isn’t enough in the OUA?” asked Derouin. “But whatever, that’s for other people to debate. Our guys know that since Dragan and [Koulamallah] returned … that might have been the closest game.”
You can catch all the games from the national championships on CBC Sports.
