KINGSTON, Ont. (February 14, 2015) – The Gaels (5-12) wrapped up their final regular season home game with a strong second half performance in their 91-81 loss against the No. 2 Ottawa Gee-Gees (16-1) this Saturday night at the ARC main gym. 

Patrick Street (Etobicoke, Ont.) led the Gaels with 22 points while Cy Samuels (Vaughan, Ont.) picked up a double-double performance with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Gaels had a big night from rookies Tanner Graham (Kingston, Ont.) who scored 17 points and Sammy Ayisi (Toronto) who scored 10 points. The Gee-Gees were led by Johnny Berhanemeskel who scored 24 points and Mike L'Africain who scored 18 points. 

The Gee-Gees exploded onto the court from the tip-off and grabbed the early lead which they never relinquished. The first quarter saw the Gee-Gees begin to pull away as they doubled the Gaels in shooting percentage from the floor and rounded out the quarter ahead 28-13. The Gaels created some resistance for the Gee-Gees in the second quarter but Ottawa stayed well ahead outscoring Queen's 22-14 and heading into the second half up 50-27. 

After the halftime break the Gaels gained some traction on the court increasing their field goal percentage to 59% and outscoring the Gee-Gees 26-20. Heading into the final quarter of play the Gaels were trailing 70-53 against Ottawa. 

The Gaels had a strong final quarter of play with Street leading the offensive front as the Gaels made their way to the basket  to the tune of 28 points while Ottawa only racked up 21. The No. 2 team staggered as the Gaels hustled to the basket reducing the Gee-Gees lead to 10 points off a three from Tanner with 30 seconds left of regulation time. There wasn't enough time for the Gaels to pull off a comeback and the Gee-Gees topped off the night with a 91-81 victory. 

The Gaels honoured their graduating fifth year athlete Greg Faulkner (Kingston, Ont.) tonight. Faulkner leads the Gaels with an average of 20.7 points a game ranking him No. 6 on the CIS charts.  Faulkner missed both games this weekend due to injury.

"Greg has made a massive impact in practice and on the court since joining the team," commented head coach Stephan Barrie. "Many of his past performances have been nothing short of spectacular. Whether we're down twenty or up twenty, he always plays the same way; with the same level of competitiveness and intensity." 

Barrie recalls a game when the Gaels were down by 20 against Western this season and how the leadership Faulkner demonstrated at halftime gave his teammates the energy they needed to comeback in the second half. "He has a tremendous sense of self and it's going to serve him well in the future". 

The Gaels will be on the road to Toronto next weekend for their final regular OUA season games. On February 20 the Gaels will face the No. 3 Ryerson Rams at 8:00 pm.