Box Score
GeeGee's Ward's Off Gryphon's 83-77
On Saturday night the Guelph Gryphon men's basketball team dropped a 83-77 final tonight in a offensive battle with the Ottawa Gee Gees.
In the fourth quarter of Saturday night's basketball game, Guelph's Kareem Malcolm and Ottawa's Warren Ward put on a scoring display for the ages.
While Malcolm may have won the scoring competition, exploding for 30 points with 15 coming in the fourth quarter alone, Ward carried the GeeGee's to a victory with 10 fourth quarter points, giving him 28 in the game to go with eight rebounds.
With the win, Ottawa improves to 3-3 on the season, while Guelph falls to 3-3, dropping both games this weekend.
Along with Ward, Ottawa was led by Johnny Berhanmeskel and Mike L'Africain, who both scored 16 points. Berhanmeskel led all players with four assists, with L'Africain shot an impressive 7-10 from the field.
Dan McCarthy and Adam Bering each scored 14 points to go with Malcolm's game high 30. The Gryphon's shot a respectable 45.5% from the field, but were unable to connect from three, hitting just 21% from deep. Ottawa's ability to get in the lane allowed them to take 32 free-throws, compared to just 19 attempts by Guelph.
Ottawa jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead before Guelph bench cut into the lead. Osman Mohamed hit a big three, and added a nice post move to net five points in the quarter, but Ottata took an 18-12 lead after one by forcing a number of Guelph turnovers. L'Africain came off the bench to lead the GeeGee's with five early on.
The GeeGee's defence continued to hound the Gryphon's, allowing Ottawa to use an 11-2 run to jump ahead 29-14 early on. Ward had seven points during the stretch. A Malcolm three cut the Guelph deficit to 37-26, with McCarthy adding another with just 30 seconds left in the half. Bering tipped in a last second rebound to cut the Ottawa advantage to 39-31 at the half, with ward leading all scorers with 11 points.
Both teams began the second half playing tight defence, as neither team was able to go on a run. The GeeGee's used good ball movement to get a number of players involved, stretching the lead to 54-39 late in the quarter.
Guelph had a couple opportunities at three-point plays off fouls, but were unable to capitalize at the charity stripe. Malcolm scored eight points in the third, while Ward and L'Africain added seven and six respectively, giving the GeeGees a 58-46 lead heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter saw Guelph play some of their best defence of the game, forcing Ottawa into nine fourth quarter turnovers after only giving up six in the first three. Malcolm led the way with 15, cutting into the lane time-and-time again. His ability to create for himself was imperative as the Gryphon's could get little going against the tough Ottawa defence.
A Zach Angus jumper cut the GeeGee's lead to single digits with just over a minute to play, with Guelph forcing two turnovers late to get as close as 74-70. In the end, Ward was just too much, attacking the rim and dishing to open teammates to seal the victory.
Guelph will look to get back above .500 when they hit the road to take on the Laurentian Voyaguers Friday, December 2 in Sudbury, Ontario. Tipoff is scheduled for 8pm.
