KINGSTON, Ont. (Feb. 24, 2024) - Queen's Men's Basketball opened their OUA Wilson Cup Playoffs with an 85-79 win over the McMaster Marauders Saturday afternoon at the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC). With the quarterfinals win, the top-seeded Gaels advanced to the OUA semifinals.

After a big first quarter, Queen's held a comfortable lead throughout the first half, holding their largest lead of the game at 12 points early in the second quarter, and carrying a 10-point lead into half time. The Marauders would go on a run in the second half, and pull within two points a couple times, but the Gaels' strong defence and momentum swing plays on the offensive side helped secure the six-point win.

Luka Syllas (Kingston, Ont.) led all scorers with 31 points in the win, while also recording six rebounds, and seven assists.

"It felt good. A little bit of a strange game with the 3 p.m. start but once we started getting running and getting on the same page, we did well," Syllas said after the game. "McMaster's a good team, a little bit closer of a game than maybe we wanted, but at the end of the day, we got the win."

Syllas credited Head Coach Steph Barrie with some key adjustments and the team digging in on the defensive side of the ball for stopping McMaster's momentum runs in the second half.

"We knew going into it basketball's a game of runs. Steph called some really key timeouts, making adjustments, on the ball screens especially. And guys dug deep defensively, guarding their yard, making sure their key guys weren't getting in the paint, getting easy looks."

Michael Kelvin (Kingston, Ont.) had a big performance off the bench for the Gaels in the win, finishing with 13 points powered off three highlight reel dunks in the second half. 

Cam Bett (Staines-upon-Thames, UK) was also strong off the bench, finishing with 10 points.

And Fofo Adetogun (Regina, Sask.) finished just one point shy of a double double, recording nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
 
"When we played McMaster the first time, it was a close game. We knew this was going to be a tough game and they had gained momentum off the TMU win, so that makes them scary," Queen's Men's Basketball Head Coach Steph Barrie said. "What we're happy about is we were able to find a way down the stretch in certain ways to get over the hump. There's still a lot of stuff we have to get better at, but at this point in the season, it doesn't matter how it gets done, you just have to find a way to get it done."

Saturday's win was played in front of a jam-packed ARC. Barrie said the team fed off the energy in the crowd and can use that to their advantage as they advance in the OUA Playoffs.

"So grateful we had a great turnout," Barrie continued. "During reading week, that's hard to do. It speaks volumes about the guys we have and the connection with the community that they've built. You see all the little kids come out, it's awesome. We're going to need standing room only on Wednesday to get the job done, so looking forward to having another great crowd then." 

Queen's will take on the winner of tonight's quarterfinals matchup between the No. 4 Toronto Varsity Blues and No. 5 Ontario Tech Ridgebacks. The semifinals matchup will take place Wednesday, February 28 at the ARC. Tickets for the game can be purchased at the ARC on game day or online on the Queen's Gaels Tickets Webpage.