SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. (February 20, 2016)- The Queen's Gaels men's basketball team lost its second game in a row on Saturday evening at the George Leach Centre, dropping a 71-60 decision to the Algoma Thunderbirds.
 
GAME FLOW
Sukhpreet Singh (Toronto) tallied a team-high 15 points on 5-of-18 shooting, and added five rebounds and a pair of steals for the Gaels, and the Graham brothers (Kingston) combined for 23 points and 13 rebounds in the loss for Queen's (10-7). Starters Mike Shoveller (Arnprior, Ont.) and Sammy Ayisi (Toronto) had a quiet evening, combing for four points offensively, while Andrew Mavety (Vancouver, B.C.) added nine points and six boards in a losing cause.
 
Sean Clendinning had an impressive game for Algoma, shooting 9-of-13, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, and recording a contest-high 24 points in helping the Thunderbirds pick up their fifth win of the season. Andre Barber dropped 18 points and pulled down eight rebounds for the home side, who took a single-digit lead into the halftime break after breaking a 27-27 tie at the 2:40 mark of the second quarter with a 7-0 run to end the half.
 
Algoma would never surrender the lead after taking it for good late in the opening half. The Gaels, who shot 30.9% (21-68) for the game, had their most productive play on the offensive end of the court in the third-quarter, dropping 20 points. They could not, however, come more than six points within tying the game, and the Thunderbirds were able to pull away in the final quarter of play and put the contest out of reach.
 
The Thunderbirds shot 41.1% and outrebounded the Gaels 47-41, while the Queen's bench outscored Algoma's by 17 points.
 
The loss does not hurt the Gaels in the standings, as they have already clinched second-place in the OUA East division and cannot catch the CIS No. 1 ranked Ryerson Rams (15-2) in first-place.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
.500- The Gaels finish the road portion of their conference schedule with a .500 record (5-5)
60- It was just the second time this season that the Gaels were held to 60 points or fewer
30.9%- The men shot a season-low 30.9% against Algoma on Saturday, nearly 12 percentage points below their average
 
UP NEXT
The men will close out the regular season next weekend at the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC), where they will play host to the Rams and Toronto Varsity Blues on February 26 and 27 respectively.