Rough road trip for men’s basketball

Strong defensive performance met with offensive woes

Sukhpreet Singh scored a career-high 39 points in the loss to Carleton.
Image supplied by: Journal File Photo
Sukhpreet Singh scored a career-high 39 points in the loss to Carleton.

Men’s basketball continued to struggle away from home this past weekend, with back-to-back losses against the Ottawa Gee-Gees and Carleton Ravens. 

After falling behind early in Friday’s matchup against the second-ranked Gee-Gees, poor shooting and inconsistent play led to a 76-60 loss for the Gaels.

“We just couldn’t get it going offensively. You got to score in the 70s and 80s to beat that type of team, because they’re always going to score so much,” guard Sukhpreet Singh said.

The Gaels held the Gee-Gees to their second lowest scoring output of the season. While this defensive display was a good feat, their execution wasn’t ideal on the offensive end of the court. Queen’s shot 32 per cent from the floor and turned the ball over 19 times.

The men fared the same on Saturday night against the Ravens.

After trailing 44-29 at the half to the defending CIS champions, the Gaels ripped off an impressive 38 points in the third quarter — a season high — and headed into the fourth down by just two points.

Having never beaten Carleton in his career, Singh hoped to make a statement in the third quarter.

“I saw the scoreboard, looked up and thought, ‘I don’t want to lose to Carleton again.’ I read somewhere that we hadn’t beaten them for 18 years and something just switched in my mind: we’re winning this game and I don’t care what it takes.” 

Behind the team’s efficient 51 per cent from the field was Singh, who scored 21 points in the quarter. 

However, despite a battling effort, the Gaels ran out of gas and fell 99-81.

“It sucks losing, regardless of whatever I scored … it would’ve been nice to just have the win,” Singh said. The guard scored a career-high 39 points in Saturday’s defeat.

With a 1-4 record in their last five matches, the Gaels seemingly lack consistency — often struggling to find an appropriate balance between offence and defence.

Although their record since coming off the break is worrisome, Singh says the team has to remain patient and stay the course. — Everything will fall into place with time, he said.

“Defensively we’ve been a lot better and offensively we’ve been good too,” he said. “Now it’s just a matter of putting both together and having a consistent game for 48 minutes.”

The team will adopt a disciplined defensive mentality, Singh says, hoping to finish the season strong and find post-season success.

“As long as we’re good on the back-end, offence will take care of itself.”

Having lost four of their last five on the road, the Gaels are eager to return home next weekend to host the Guelph Gryphons and the Lakehead Thunderwolves. 

Tags

Carleton, Carleton Ravens, Gee-Gees, Men's Basketball, Ottawa, Sukhpreet Singh

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