Men's basketball back on top after winning weekend
By Ryan Rogers
Sports Editor
January 16, 2008
After a mere two-point loss to the Guelph Gryphons, the Lancers Men’s Basketball Team took a lesson learned and applied it to shut down the Western Mustangs.
Coach Chris Oliver elaborated, “The last two days in practice they didn’t really need me at practice ‘cause they knew what happened on Saturday night wasn’t good. And they competed so hard and they were so physical in practice and so aggressive that I just had to remind them that ‘Hey, it’s going to be hard. You’ve got to do everything you do in this game hard. Run hard offense, compete every defensive possession, and be physical.’”
The men started the game strong with a great first quarter, outscoring Western 21-14. They had a bit of a slow start coming into the second quarter, but a couple of three-pointers put them right back in the mix. Ryan Steer hit three consecutive free-throws on a technical foul, and finished the game with 17 points, 5 steals, 12 assists and 7 rebounds. Isaac Kuon showed great speed and soft hands with a fast lay-up. Western threw up a big three pointer at the buzzer to end the first half, and brought themselves within 15 points.
Oliver had taken a timeout early in the second half after Western tallied up four points and drew a personal foul all within the first minute of play.
Greg Surmacz, who had 27 points on the night, said the time out was meant to refocus. “It wasn’t more so that [Western was] giving us trouble, but we got into a sleepwalking mode on the floor and we’re not aggressive. When they get into their comfort level it’s really tough for us defensively, because they can take any shot they want. But when we get aggressive and force them to do stuff they don’t want to do, it makes our jobs a lot easier,” said Surmacz.
Western proved to be a very quick team, especially 4, Matthew Curtis and 9, Alex Brzozowicz. Western’s Curtis had some quick defense causing multiple turnovers while the Lancers were pushing their offense, and finished the game with a team high 15 points, and 7 steals. The third quarter proved to be their worst, as they were outscored 20-13, but still maintained a lead of 62-50. Buckling down and looking to finish strong, the Lancers played a physical and emotional game; in some cases, a little too emotional.
Second year heir to the team, Kuon, kicked a chair over after coming off the court, to which the coach responded by sending him directly to the showers to cool off.
Oliver said, “Isaac is an emotional kid, and he came off and showed some emotion, and you know, he’s just got to learn to be able to settle himself emotionally. I love Isaac, and he’s definitely one of my favourite players in the world, and he’s going to be fine, and we’ll deal with it and get him back in the fold. He’ll be fine.”
There were very physical fights for the ball at every chance, as piles of players stacked up underneath each of the nets all night long. Surmacz said, “We just stress getting loose balls, so that’s why three or four of our white jerseys we swarm the ball at all times. Those guys want the ball too, so it’s just ugly underneath there, a lot of banging and stuff everybody wanted the ball. So it just got where there was a big pack of people who wanted the ball.”
Western had been building momentum since the start of the second half, and there was a feeling that they could break out. That is, until Surmacz laid down a massive jam on everybody, bringing the large St. Denis crowd to their feet. “I wanted to energize [the fans]. They got up off the ground, and really energized them for the next couple of possessions on defense and we just rolled from there,” said Surmacz. “It feels great.”
With a 15-point spread, the Lancers slowed the game down to a crawl, taking up their shot clock to run down the game time. The slowed play resulted in offensive opportunities for Greg Allin, who potted a few easy field goals down low on the boards, after some clever passing, finishing the night with 13 points, 3 steals, and 13 rebounds. With those adjustments, the Lancers started to open their lead up again, and had control of the game, closing out the Mustangs 85-69.
After the game, did the coach have any concerns with the offensive turnovers in the top court? “Big time concerns. But again, I’ll give some liberties on offense if we compete on defense. I certainly don’t accept the effort we had on offensively. We had a lot of sloppiness and a lot of turnovers. But at the same time, at least most of the mistakes we made were aggressive mistakes. And if we’re going to make mistakes I want them to be aggressive, so I was proud of our guys for that.”
And while at this point of the season Oliver says that he’s not going to be looking at the standings, the win did move them in the right direction for a run at the OUA championships again.
After a huge win at McMaster, this past Saturday, the team is tied for the first place in the West division, and have 11 games remaining, including their next game which is a rematch against Western, in London.
The Lancers won 76-62, and were led by Kuon who rebounded with a 22-point night, 4 steals, and 2 assists. Surmacz followed with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
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