After a rough 93-65 loss on Friday night against the Laurier Golden Hawks (5-3), the Gaels (4-3) rebounded Saturday night against the University of Waterloo Warriors (1-7) with a 83-75 win last weekend.

Against Laurier, the Gaels found themselves behind early. Down 33-15 by the end of the first quarter, Queen’s faced slow progress for the remainder of the game. At half, they trailed by as much as 29 points. 

Despite keeping the third and fourth quarter close, the Golden Hawks kept the Gaels at bay and finished the game with a convincing 93-65 win. It was Queen’s largest margin of defeat this season.

The following night, the Gaels continued their shaky play against Waterloo. The Warriors finished the first half up 40-34 while shooting an impressive 57 per cent from the field.  

But in the third quarter, Queen’s began to pull ahead. 

Led by fifth-year guard Jaz Bains, the Gaels scored 26 points coming out of the half and opened the fourth with a narrow 60-57 lead. Bains—who’s fourth in the OUA in scoring with 22.2 per contest—chipped in with 10 of his 22 points in the quarter. 

“The second half was really where we found our rhythm and got the pace of the game where we wanted it,” Head Coach Steph Barrie told The Journal after the game. “At some point in the third quarter, we slowly got where we wanted to be and ended up taking control [of the] game.”

Both teams traded baskets throughout the fourth quarter and were knotted up 75-75 with 1:20 left to play in regulation. With the shot clock about to expire, Gaels forward Tanner Graham connected on a three to give his team the lead—and that sealed it. 

Including Graham’s three, Queen’s went on a 8-0 run to finish the game, winning their fourth game of the season 83-75 and maintaining their winning 4-3 record. 

“We’ve been working on that segment of games in the last two weeks of practices. I was pretty confident that we were going to execute,” Barrie said of how his team’s approach as the game winded down. 

“I always try to look for the guys that are making subtle differences. Our main guys, Tanner [Graham], Jaz [Bains] and Quinton [Grey]—when it was time for the second half, they really stepped up.” 

Graham’s 17 points brought him to surpass the 1,000-point mark in his career with Queen’s. He’s currently sixth all-time among Gaels players for points with 1,015, slightly behind Mike Burleigh (1987-91) who’s scored 1,048.

Holding a 4-3 record, the Gaels are currently fourth in the OUA with Laurentian (4-2) and UOttawa (4-2)  ahead tied for third. They all sit behind the undefeated Ryerson Rams (7-0) and Carleton Ravens (6-0).

This coming Saturday, the Gaels hit the road to take on the Lakehead Thunderwolves (2-4) in their lone game of the weekend.