OTTAWA (January 28, 2011) - After coming off an upset win last week against the Toronto Varsity Blues, the Queen's Gaels struggled to sustain their success losing 71-41 to the Ottawa Gee-Gees in men's basketball on Friday.

Ottawa used an explosive 18-0 run during the first half to improve their record to 7-9 while pushing the Gaels to 3-13 in the OUA East. Coupled with a Ryerson win over Laurentian (84-70), the Gaels are six points behind Laurentian for the final playoff position.

Louis Gauthier of Ottawa recorded his second double-double of the season dropping 14 points and 10 rebounds. Warren Ward of London, Ont., was the game's top scorer for Ottawa tallying 18 points while Johnny Berhanemeskel of Ottawa registered 10.

Dan Bannister of Newmarket, Ont. led all Queen's scorers with seven points in the loss. Two other Gaels had six points including Nikola Mislijencevic of Ottawa, Jordan Kirchberger of Orleans, Ont.

Queen's offensive struggles saw the Gaels post a mere 14 points before the half while the Gee-Gees tallied 42. At one point in the opening half, Queen's went nine minutes and 42 seconds without scoring a point.

The Gaels offence picked up in the second half dropping 27 points and winning the final quarter 13-10.

With six games remaining, the Gaels are in seventh place of the OUA East with six points separating Queen's and sixth place Laurentian. The Gaels have a game in hand on the Voyageurs and will meet them on February 12 in Kingston.

Tomorrow Queen's will be in tough to rebound from the loss as they face the No. 1 ranked Carleton Ravens (16-0) at the Raven's Nest on campus at Carleton University. The Ravens are coming off a 101-24 win over RMC, but had troubles with the Gaels in their last meeting back on January 14.

NOTES: Last Saturday the Gaels upset the second place Toronto Varsity Blues 80-66 in Toronto... Dan Bannister (Newmarket, Ont.,) broke the Gaels 10 minute scoring slump with a put back with just 1:41 remaining in the second quarter.