The men’s basketball team got its playoff run off to a roaring start Wednesday night with a 75-57 home win over the York Lions.
The Gaels, who lost to York in last year’s divisional quarter-finals, never trailed in the game.
York star Tut Ruach led all scorers with 25 points, but was held largely in check by the Gaels’ defense. Forward Mitch Leger led the Gaels with 20 points, seven of them unanswered at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Simon Mitchell added 18 points for Queen’s.
The Gaels led 19-14 after the first quarter, with the last two baskets scored by rookie Dan Bannister. The Gaels didn’t allow any points in the first 4:40 of the second quarter, leading 23-14. York cut the lead to six points, but the Gaels scored 16 of the next 22 points to lead 39-23, and led 39-29 going into halftime.
The Gaels dominated the third quarter, leading 56-38 at its end.
The Gaels will now face the five-time national champion Carleton Ravens Saturday at the Ravens’ Nest at 8 p.m.
Rrior to the York game Coach Rob Smart said his team was already focused on the Ravens.
“Really, I think we’ve got to focus on Carleton,” he said. “If we can beat Carleton in the second round, if we’re good enough to beat Carleton, we’re probably good enough to win the first round. … To do anything significant as far as I’m concerned, you’ve got to beat Carleton.”
Smart now has the match-up he anticipated, coaching against his brother Dave, Carleton’s head coach.
The Ravens are coming off a 75-73 win over the Ottawa Gee-Gees in their final regular season game, and were a perfect 22-0 this season.
In all, they’ve won 25 straight OUA games dating back to last season.
Carleton received 27 points and 12 rebounds from veteran guard Stu Turnbull of Kingston in the victory over Ottawa.
–With files from Andrew Bucholtz
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.