Queens Dominates Lakehead to Extend Winning Streak

By: Matteo Ametrano

Queens headed to Lakehead University Friday night for one of their last games before the OUA Playoffs. The visiting Gaels come into tonight’s contest on a hot streak, as they have won eight games in a row, and are on a winning streak dating back to January 12th.  The Thunderwolves remain on their home court, where they most recently beat Brock in back-to-back contests. Lakehead has been on a bit of a hot streak themselves late in the season and have won four of their last five games. With OUA Playoffs just around the corner, the significance heightens with seeding and positioning on the line.

A packed and excited gym in Thunder Bay awaited the opening tip-off between the Thunderbirds and the visiting Gaels in one of the last regular season games of the season for both sides.

The Gaels offence started hot and were making highlight plays at the start. Fofo Adetogun, showed off athleticism with an impressive spin move inside making a man miss for an easy lay-up.  On the defensive side, the Gaels were playing well and were forcing a couple of early turnovers, and they took advantage of the extra possessions, they got from the defensive activity.  A charge taken by Cole Syllas continued to slow down the Thunderbird's offence as they struggled to gain any momentum at the beginning of the game. Queens was very active in the first with double teams and they were quick to transition with their defensive rotations, really making it difficult for the home side. Big stops resulted in early offence and the Gaels cashed in on some big threes. Great hustle from Adetogun on the offensive glass was also assisting to the Gaels big lead and a great start.  Some good d from Lakehead to close the quarter helped them cut the lead a bit as they the Gaels led 23-13 heading into the second quarter.

Highlighting the quarter for the Gaels was a stepback three from Luka Syllas as Queens offence got off to a hot start in the first quarter, and strong d holding the home team to only 13 first-quarter points.

The Gaels continued strong defence in the second quarter, forcing the Thunderbirds into tough looks and deep threes. The Thunderbirds failed to make a field goal until the 7:55 mark in the second. The Gaels offence led by Cole Syllas was looking comfortable as the quarter continued.  However, a couple long three-pointers from the home side had the deficit to ten when both teams entered the bonus with 4:15 remaining in the half.  But on back-to-back possessions, the Gaels answered with threes of their own and continued to close out a strong first-half showing on the road.  

The Gaels emphasized their first-half dominance with a big slam from Aaron Tennant to push the Gaels lead to sixteen, their biggest of the half. Later in the quarter Cole Syllas was fouled with 2:20 remaining as he finished a crafty and one play, and then a pretty fadeaway jumper, as Syllas led the way offensively for the Gaels.  Closing the half strong, Syllas hit a stepback three to beat the buzzer and take the Gaels into halftime with a huge lead, up 50-33.

The Gaels came out of the locker room from half and looked to continue their great offensive performance. They did just that, scoring on their opening four possessions.  The Thunderbirds hit a couple of threes in a row to make it a 16-point game forcing the Gaels into a timeout, still with a comfortable lead.  Active hands-on defence and great shooting from distance, helped the Gaels extend their lead to 22 as they were up 77-55, despite the Thunderbirds hitting a buzzer-beater three of their own this time to end the third quarter. 

            The Gaels looked to close out an outstanding road showing, as they dominated the Thunderbirds throughout most of the game, and the score reflected that.   Luka Syllas hit a tough turnaround jumper and got a lucky bounce, as the Gaels were getting everything their way on the offencive end Friday night.  The Gaels activity on the defensive end made it difficult for the Thunderbirds to work inside the entire game, as they were forced into a lot of long threes. Luka Syllas was heating up in the fourth as the Gaels were up by at least 20 through most of the closing quarter.  A quick quarter came to an end as the Gaels took this one rather easily, 98-77. With this victory, the Gaels extended their long winning streak to nine games in a row.

You can catch the Gaels in action again on February 16, as they return home to host the Ottawa Gee-Gees. With only two regular-season games remaining, the Gaels look to stay hot and keep their momentum from this regular-season winning streak as they head into the OUA Playoffs.