Unibball dispatch: Cardiac Gaels survive Winnipeg, and all-OUA East semifinals loom
You might be missing some great games on Quarterfinal Friday at the Canadian university men's basketball championship. That's why I watch them.
With his brother a ghost on this day, Cole Syllas appeared like an avenging angel with go-go-Gadget arms for the swat heard ’round the Queen’s-verse.
At the survive-and-advance stage of a basketball season, a team can beat you, and cause you to beat yourself, but you only have to win on the scoreboard. The Queen’s Gaels got that, on the margin of Syllas blocking a buzzer-beating game-winning shot attempt from the left wing by the Winnipeg Wesmen’s Elijah Mensah to preserve the Gaels’ 77-76 quarterfinal win at the U Sports Final 8. It was as high a drama as you can get with a league that linear TV neglects, at least until Saturday night.
I unapologetically and unreservedly superfan the hell of Unibball every March because of moments like that. It’s do-or-done, not do-or-die, but so much can turn on one pass or one shot.
Everything is ephemeral in a single-elimination short tournament. The Tall Yellow Guys are on to Ottawa for the first of two all-OUA East national semifinals on Saturday that you can watch on our public broadcaster for free.1
Gee-Gees vs. Gaels, men’s semifinal, 6 p.m. ET
Gaels vs. Carleton Ravens, women’s semifinal, 8 p.m. ET
The Gaels’ two regular-season wins against the Gee-Gees were also both by one point. There is that cliché about how the third time is the charm.
The Tall Yellow Guys were slightly shortstaffed without leading scorer, all-Canadian guard, and national defensive player of the year Luka Syllas. The other Syllas had a one-game ban due to being ejected during the final conference playoff game on March 2. Syllas is Queen’s primary on-ball defender, and their closer at winning time. And they won without him!
Without Luka, the Gaels lived on their secondary corps — and Cole Syllas broke out moves never seen before. Like his fadeaway jumper from the left baseline that extended Queen’s a six-point margin with 2:33 left. It turned out to be the final Queen’s points of the day. He wriggled through coverage to finish inside, and constantly alighted to alter Winnipeg’s inside finishers. Cameron Bett, the lefty Englishman, took over as the primary ball handler, with 16 points and a game-most five assists.
And role players, who coach Steph Barrie had not needed as much during the run to the OUA conference town, stepped up at critical times. There was always that extra inch of length and desire coming from the likes of Michael Kelvin II, Isaac Krueger, Aaron Tennant, and Fofo Adetogun as the Gaels contended with Winnipeg’s 6-foot-9 Mikhail Mikhailov and 6-foot-7 Donald Stewart. Reserve guard Connor Kelly hooped 11 points in 13 minutes, double his season average of 5.2, and that included successive triples during the third quarter that put Queen’s ahead for good.
At the end of the first half, Barrie also dialed a version of Pacer, the last-shot play made famous by Bryce Drew and Valparaiso in a famous NCAA Tournament first-round upset in 1998. Syllas, from the far baseline, threw a baseball pass to Kelvin, who dropped it down to Bett to make the buzzer triple.
The shot even banked in, just as Cole Syllas’s decisive dagger in the OUA Wilson Cup did six days ago. Every Bett counts, you could say. Groan. You start believing in destiny before you remember winning and losing in the hands of the Fates.
One holds some space to be gutted for Winnipeg, the Canada West second place team. The Wesmen, who were one-and-done after a decisive defeat against Ottawa at the 2023 tourney, just kept coming. The Wesmen are an impressive blend of local players complemented by three imports from Spain, including Mikhailov and guard Michael Gordo, whom we’ll hopefully see at nationals again. They plucked 19 offensive rebounds, tried 11 more shots, and were assessed nine fewer fouls than Queen’s, and lost after being contained to 46.9 TSP.2
I promised I would not spout stats like the untreated person sitting alone in a Tim Hortons I will surely be in 10 years, if I’m lucky. Damn, though, Winnipeg rated more run.
Anyway, on this end, I’ll write through a bit after the evening quarterfinals.
The U of Other Guys
The kicker in this Queen’s run is that it could just be the prologue in someone else’s championship story. No one has more of a right to go all Arnie Pie in the Sky than the Ottawa Gee-Gees. When will it be our time, Kent?
The Gee-Gees are in the ‘final four’ for the sixth time in the last 16 seasons, second season in a row after a 2023 bronze medal and a tournament all-star team nod for guard Drajan Stajic. Stajic, wearing that mantle, was a superb closer when Ottawa needed it on Friday.
Oh, and the Victoria Vikes and national player of the year Diego Maffia are the 1-seed on the other side of the draw.
Friday, Ottawa held off the UQAM Citadins by seven points after going in front to stay with an 11-0 run in the third quarter. Stajic slowed everything down when it was needed, never more than he pulled in defenders to free Kevin Otoo for a corner three that opened a 10-point spread with about one minute left. Another ‘puddingaway’ bucket was Justin Ndjock’s dunk that extended Ottawa to an eight-point lead with 3:25 left.
The Citadins — stop spouting stats!! — lost the turnover battle 24-17, and their lead guard Kevin Civil had only three second-half points and never got the free-throw line, finishing with 14 on an even 50 TSP.
This is fun, eh? Let’s see who can summon enough of their A game on Semifinal(s) Saturday.
That is more than enough for now. Please stay safe, and be kind, especially to yourself.
Until the cows come home, or the political polling is proven true. The Very Serious Leader of the Official Opposition, who cannot receive security briefings, might edge-lord and shytepost his way into the prime ministership, but someone who commmitted election fraud and openly supported a dirty-tricks insurrection will never be a legit PM. Former PM Kim Campbell is correct. N-E-V-E-R.)
True Shooting Percentage. Take a team’s points, divide that by two, and divide that by total field goal attempts (FGA). Winnipeg tried 81 shots and scored 76 points. Queen’s scored 77 from 70 FGA, for a 55.0 TSP.