KINGSTON, Ont. (November 20, 2015) - The Queen's Gaels (3-1) men's basketball team's three-game winning streak came to an end on Friday night at the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC), where they fell 84-71 to the No. 9 McMaster Marauders (3-2).
Tanner Graham recorded a game-high 21 points for the Gaels, shooting 9-of-16 from the floor, while
Sukhpreet Singh added 12 in a losing cause for Queen's, who fall to 3-1 on the season. Aaron Redpath led the Marauders with 20 points, including five three-point baskets.
GAME FLOWThe men got off to a good start on both ends of the floor. After a Gaels turnover, the Marauders were looking for an easy lay-up in transition, but
Tanner Graham (Kingston, Ont.) was having none of it. The big man hustled back for a leaping rejection, and
Mike Shoveller (Arnprior, Ont.) converted on the ensuing three-point attempt off that block to swing the momentum in favour of the hosts.
Patrick Street (Etobicoke, Ont.) and
Sukhpreet Singh (Toronto) exchanged jumpers to help spread the Gaels lead. The Marauders, however, responded with a mini-run to pull within three at the end of the opening quarter.
The visitors then went on a mini-streak to open the second quarter and briefly took the lead. The teams continued trading the advantage over the next several minutes, before the Marauders began to pull away late in the half. After shooting over 60% in the opening quarter, the Gael offence cooled down in the second stanza, as the men managed just 11 points compared to 21 from the Marauders. Redpath and Chris Thompson, meanwhile, were leading the McMaster charge, nailing back-to-back three pointers to push the Marauder lead up to seven by the end of the opening half.
The Gaels made good on a couple of three-pointers from Shoveller and Graham early in the third quarter, but Redpath responded with two of his own to maintain the Marauder lead. McMaster then capitalized on a Queen's turnover, pushing the advantage up to 13, which led to a timeout from Gael coach
Stephan Barrie. The visitors, however, continued to build their lead, scoring 23 points overall in the third to hold a 64-47 lead heading into the final quarter.
Andrew Mavety (Vancouver) nailed a corner three, which capped off a 7-1 run to open the fourth quarter for to cut the lead down to 11 with plenty of time left in regulation. A lay-up from Graham that brought the Gaels within single digits prompted a quick McMaster timeout.
Singh tried to continue rallying the Gael cause, forcing two Marauder turnovers. The Gaels had opportunities to cut the lead down even more, but missed five straight free-throws which took a significant bite out of their comeback bid. The Marauders put the contest out of reach with two-straight three-pointers by Lazar Kojovic, and another Redpath three put a stamp on the match for McMaster.
Queen's shot 44.4% from the field overall, compared to 46.4% from the Marauders. The men also outrebounded McMaster 42-36.
FINAL SAY"McMaster is ranked for a reason, so holding them down is always a challenge," said Barrie. "They got going in the second quarter. But I thought that there were some points in the second half where we were right on the verge of making a run. But we just couldn't convert several open shots and get over that hump once they built the lead. So far this year we've been making free throws late, so tonight was uncharacteristic. Those things happen, we need to be strong and put them behind us, and get ready to go for tomorrow."
BY THE NUMBERS17- Marauder points off 15 Queen's turnovers
8- Rebounds tallied by
Tanner Graham to go along with his game-high 21 points
62.5%- The Gaels shooting percentage in the first quarter.
UP NEXTThe men return to the ARC on Saturday night to host the No.4 Brock Badgers, game-time is set for 8:00 p.m.
