KINGSTON, Ont. (January 27, 2017)- The Queen's Gaels men's basketball team was unable to break its current losing streak on Friday evening, falling 93-84 to the Nipissing Lakers at the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC).
Sukhpreet Singh tallied a game-high 29 points, surpassing Derek Richardson for second on the Gaels men's basketball's all-time scoring list, while
Tanner Graham tallied 24 points and 12 rebounds in a losing cause for the Gaels (6-7), who fall under the .500 mark for the first time this season. The Lakers improve to 6-8 in conference play after shooting a solid 43.3% (13-30) from three-point range.
GAME FLOW
After the visitors used a 12-2 run to close out the opening quarter with a 24-16 lead, the Gaels cut the deficit to four early in the second. The Lakers answered, scoring five points in a row. Consecutive three-point baskets from Nipissing extended the lead to 10.
Russell Winters (Long Island, N.Y.) hit a three, and Graham (Kingston) followed that up with a drive and hoop to quickly slice the lead in half. A three from Singh (Toronto) moments later would bring the men within a basket of evening the contest.
But a turnover from the Gaels led to a three-point play for the Lakers. After an unnecessary quick shoot-and-miss from the hosts that followed on their next possession, Ismael Kaba drained a three after two consecutive offensive boards from Nipissing, prompting a timeout from head coach
Stephan Barrie with just over a minute left in the half.
After a deceptive hesitation move led to an acrobatic lay-up from Singh that brought the crowd to its feet, Marcus Lewis responded with a buzzer-beating three, quieting the home audience as the teams entered the break with Nipissing leading 46-36.
Singh picked up four quick points to open the second half, helping to bring the men within four points of the Nipissing lead. The Lakers went on an 8-0 run through the middle portion of the third, however, taking a 12-point lead before a three-point play from Graham helped stem the tide.
Throughout a hectic final few minutes of the third that was quick-paced, the Gaels were unable to take a significant chunk out of the Laker lead, but an important second-chance three-pointer from Graham helped the men stay within single digits heading into the final quarter.
Nipissing's Addy Ogunye jacked a three to start the fourth, pushing the lead back up to double-digits. The three-point show began soon after, as Graham hit three jumpers in a row from beyond the arc, while the Lakers responded at the other end to maintain a multiple possession advantage.
A lay-up by Singh was sandwiched between two hard-working baskets from
Jesse Graham (Kingston), cutting the lead down to five. But after Ogunye hit three free throws following a foul on his long attempt, the guard drained an open basket from range, quickly spreading the lead back to 11 with just over two minutes remaining in regulation.
Singh took off for the next 80 seconds, draining seven points in a row for his team. But the Nipissing timely shooting continued, as the Lakers drained another three, its 13th of the contest, to maintain a nine-point lead with 40 seconds left, putting the game out of reach.
FINAL SAY
"The first quarter was the one that came back and cost us," said head coach Steph Barrie. "Our energy in the second half and compete level was good, even though we made a few mistakes. But we didn't have the energy coming out of the blocks, and if you look at the stat sheet, the first quarter was the swing quarter. I give Nipissing credit because when we made comeback plays, they responded with a shot made, or foul drawn and played very well in response to our runs. We have to fix the first quarter and the energy level coming out of the gate, and sustain it to bounce back tomorrow night."
BY THE NUMBERS
1,290- Singh sits at 1,290 career points, and is 47 points away from Mitch Leger's all-time record at 1,337
5-
Tanner Graham has now tallied five double-doubles this season
47- Nipissing picked up 47 bench points, compared to 12 from the Gaels
UP NEXT
The Gaels host the Laurentian Voyageurs on Saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. and the game can be seen live on OUA.tv. For ticket information visit www.gogaelsgo.com/tickets.
