The Lakehead University Thunderwolves spoiled the chance of an all-Ottawa final for the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in a nail-biting semi-final that went down to the final buzzer Saturday evening at the Final 8.
The Thunderwolves battled to a 66-62 win over the Gee-Gees to grant them a berth in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) men’s basketball Final 8 championship game.
“It means so much. We put in so much time for this. We knew we were going to be here. We just had to work for 40 minutes, game plan, one game at a time, and that’s what we did,” fifth-year Thunderwolves guard Joseph Jones said.
The win for the Thunderwolves crushed the chances of a Carleton-Ottawa final.
The refs set the pace early on. After the first quarter, the Gee-Gees had seven fouls, to the Thunderwolves’ three. Gee-Gees head coach James Derouin was visibly frustrated by the calls, frequently shouting at the refs from the sidelines.
“We made some poor decisions foul-wise and our better players need to know better,” a visibly upset Derouin said following the game.
“We had a rough stretch of calls, a few in the first half and the second, but that’s not why we lost the game,” he said. “It made it difficult though, that’s for sure.”
The Gee-Gees fell behind early, but the Thunderwolves only shot 43 per cent from the line in the first quarter, allowing the Gee-Gees to stay close and come back at the end of the frame, tied at 16.
In the second quarter, the foul calls were still steady, this time with Lakehead getting the brunt of it, with six in the quarter.
With their offence beginning to click, the Gee-Gees also got big stops on the defensive end to lead 32-30 at the half.
In the third quarter, the Gee-Gees opened up with a 6-0 run and Lakehead was called for three fouls early. Ottawa had a five-point lead heading into the final frame.
However, the Thunderwolves came out strong and with some questionable game calls and foul calls, they went on a 12-0 run. Two three-pointers in a row by fifth-year guard Joseph Jones helped them gain a seven-point lead with less than five minutes to go in the game.
Both teams battled down to the wire and with 19 seconds to go, the Gee-Gees trailed by two. With great free throw shooting by Joseph Jones, the Thunderwolves held on and secured the victory.
“He didn’t want to end the season today. Same thing he did last week against Windsor,” Lakehead head coach Scott Morrison said. “Once he got that three to fall that was all we needed. We got rolling then.”
In his last season with the Thunderwolves, Joseph Jones put the team on his back in the final quarter and had 24 points in the game.
The Gee-Gees were led by fifth-year Warren Ward with 21 points, but third-year guard Johnny Berhanemeskel was shut down with only 2 points in the game.
“They really took away our three-point shot and that was a big thing for us, two for 19,” Derouin said. “They fought harder, I thought. We started fighting with 45 seconds left and we didn’t have that fight for the whole game.”
The Lakehead Thunderwolves now move on to the CIS men’s basketball national championship game, where they will play the winner of the later semi-final featuring the Carleton Ravens and the Acadia University Axemen.
“We’re going to be fearless, we aren’t going to back down from anyone, doesn’t matter who you are,” Jones said. “No matter who we play tomorrow, Carleton or Acadia, doesn’t matter, we’re coming at them. We’re not backing down, this is our last ride and we are going after it.”
The Ottawa Gee-Gees will play the loser of the second semi-final for the bronze.
The gold medal game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on March 10 at Scotiabank Place, and no matter who meets the Thunderwolves in the final, it is sure to be a good one.
“We only need one more. I don’t know if it’s in there, but I got to cut a whole in the pocket and reach down as far as I can, and hopefully we can find another one,” Morrison said.
