KINGSTON, Ont. (October 27, 2017) - The Queen's Gaels (1-0) opened their season beating the Lakehead Thunderwolves (0-1) 95-68 at the Queen's ARC on Friday night in OUA men's basketball.

GAME FLOW
The Gaels started the game with a pull-up 3-pointer by Jaz Bains (Brampton, Ont.) who transferred to Queen's after a successful few seasons with the OCAA's St. Lawrence Vikings. The Tricolour also started with strong interior defence, not allowing the Thunderwolves to enter the paint for any easy attempts. Another quick three by Bains forced the Thunderwolves into a timeout at the mid-way point of the first quarter. Lock-down interior defence by Tanner Graham (Kingston, Ont.) forced Lakehead into bad jump-shot attempts, frustrating the opponent and opening up scoring opportunities for Queen's down the floor.

The Gaels finished out the first quarter leading the Thunderwovles 26-13.

Mike Shoveller (Arnprior, Ont.) got the ball rolling for the Gaels in the second, scoring off a beautiful screen-and-roll, and playing excellent interior defence.  Matt Elock (Waterdown, Ont.) and Sammy Ayisi (Ajax, Ont.) rode the momentum, each nailing a three early in the second. The Gaels offence could not be stopped, finding creases and openings in the Lakehead defence. Late in the second, Bains and Ayisi each scored impressive fast-break points, to erupt the crowd. At this point, the Gaels were an offensive freight train, showing Lakehead it can score, however, and wherever they wanted. The Gaels closed the half with a big lead, 51-26.

The Tricolour started the second half with a pair of mid-range jump shots by Bains, but he showed off his passing skills too with a no-look feed to Harry Range (Ottawa) for a basket down-low. Tanner Graham, once again, fighting down-low for rebounds and blocks, showed he is once again an anchor on defence. The Gaels were not selfish at all, sharing the basketball to score back-to-back assisted baskets forcing Lakehead into another timeout. The Thunderwolves managed to score to close out the third, but it was not enough to keep the game close.

?? MBB ??
Shoveller with a bucket, Graham goes up and under! Everyone is getting in on the action as the Gaels have a big second-half lead pic.twitter.com/xImwVSo6VO

— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) October 28, 2017

The Gaels entered the final quarter leading 68-47 and good passing by Tanner Graham helped give Queen's its first basket of the final quarter. Lakehead, trying to salvage this game by playing hard defence, was still unable to handle Bains' ball handling and the overall passing of the Gaels. Even with the 30 point lead, the Gaels did not let up, with Jesse Graham (Kingston, Ont.) scoring some late-game baskets. The Gaels closed things out with a 95-68 victory.

BY THE NUMBERS
31- Gaels tallied 31 assists on the night.
18-8-8- Jaz Bains' Points, Assists, and Rebounds; a near triple-double.
5- 5 players on the roster with double-digit points

FINAL SAY
"Follow the game-plan; we play together, we follow the scout, we're going to be a tough team to beat this year." -Jaz Bains on keys to success for the Gaels.

UP NEXT 
The McMaster Marauders come to town on Nov 3 at 8 pm to meet the Gaels. For tickets head to www.gogaelgo.com/tickets or watch the action online at OUA.tv.