Over the weekend, the men’s basketball team (9-9) pulled together one hard-fought 84-75 overtime win against the Nipissing Lakers and suffered an 85-72 loss to the Laurentian Voyageurs.

On Friday against Nipissing, Queen’s stayed tight with the visiting team for most of the game. In what proved to be a back-and-forth contest, the Gaels led by as many as nine points in overtime, while Nipissing’s largest lead was eight points in the final four minutes of regulation.

Tied 66-66 by the end, Queen’s outscored Nipissing 18-9 in overtime to seal its ninth win of the season.

Against Laurentian, the Gaels fell behind early, trailing 9-0 within the first four minutes of the game and down 47-26 by halftime. According to Head Coach Stephan Barrie, his team struggled to find a rhythm and remain consistent.  

“Just consistency,” Barrie said on what areas of his team’s game need the most attention. “When we’re good, we’re good, but when we have losses, we aren’t very good. We just have to get more consistent in those moments.”

Barrie added the first two quarters were the game’s defining moments.

“[For Laurentian], it was the first half. They came out and delivered punches that we couldn’t respond to, and from there we were playing catch up and there was too much to overcome. The first half was really the separating part of the game,” he said.

In the third quarter, the Gaels outscored the Voyageurs 23-19 and were led by guard Jaz Bains, who scored 16 in the frame and a game-high 34 on the night. Despite the individual efforts from Bains, Barrie said his team lacked a more well-rounded performance from the every player.

“I don’t think there were any standout players. I thought some of the guys fought through some adversity, but overall I think that a lot of guys have a lot of things they have to work on and we have to get to that this week in practice,” Barrie said.

The Gaels continued to fight against the Voyageurs in the final quarter of the game, but only came within ten points of tying.

“We ran some things well, but we just didn’t get enough rebounding in the end, be it the last two minutes or the second half in general,” Barrie said.

Next week, the Gaels take on the York Lions at home on Friday as their only game of the weekend.

“We are making sure we prepare as hard as we can for this game next week.”