KINGSTON, Ont. (November 18, 2016) - The Queen's Gaels (2-1) stayed ahead after the opening quarter to comfortably defeat the Laurier Golden Hawks (1-3) 80-68 in their OUA home opener on Friday night at the Queen's Athletics and Recreation Centre.

GAME FLOW
The Gaels started off the game on a 7-0 run to take an early advantage at home. The Golden Hawks fired right back with four shootings rattling off 10 straight points for Laurier to put them in front 10-7. The first quarter closed out with a low scoring defensive 14-14 showing.

In the second quarter Queen's began to start taking over the game. Isse Ibrahim (Toronto) nailed a pair of jumpers, and the Gaels added another five to go up 25-18 and forcing Laurier to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, Tanner Graham (Kingston, Ont.) began to take over the game. Both teams went nearly two minutes without a bucket before Tanner threw down a dunk, one of a handful on the night. He then scored eight of the Gaels next 10 points, nailing a three, followed by a jumper and then sending the ARC into a frenzy as he threw down another dunk while drawing the foul on the play, converting the free throw.
 

We have some good material for an https://t.co/9xTOznwjCF promo video! @OUAsport #OUA #GoGaelsGo pic.twitter.com/c4E73qPRMH

— #ChaGheill (@queensgaels) November 19, 2016

At halftime, the Gaels sat comfortably ahead 39-28. The Gaels played a balanced game the rest of the way with contributors coming from across the lineup. The Gaels stretched their lead out to as many as 19 at one time before settling with an 80-68 final score to improve to 2-1 on the season.

Queen's had four players hit double digits as Tanner, Sukhpreet Singh (Toronto), and Ibrahim each dropped 15 points while Russell Winters (Long Island, NY) added 11 points going 4-4 off the bench.

FINAL SAY?
"I think defensively we just kept pressuring the ball with good execution and offensively we did a good job of not turning the ball over. After the loss to York, we all pulled together to play more as a team, and that has shown through the last two games." - Sammy Ayisi.

BY THE NUMBERS
1114 - Career points for Singh, just 32 behind Mike Scotten for third in franchise history
32.1% - The Laurier shooting percentage for the game, 15 percent below what the Gaels shot
5 - Blocks for Tanner who also had six rebounds, two assists and one steal

UP NEXT 
The Gaels are back in action tomorrow afternoon as they host the Waterloo Warriors at the ARC with a 4pm start time. For ticket information visit www.gogaelsgo.com/tickets or watch the game live on OUA.tv.