Gaels Look to Remain Undefeated at Home vs Ridgebacks

By: Matteo Ametrano
The undefeated Queens Gaels Men’s Basketball team looked to continue their early season
success this Friday November 17 on their home court as they hosted the Ontario Tech
Ridgebacks. Queens came into Fridays match up on a bit of a hot streak as they started off the
campaign with 4 wins in rather dominant fashion. Being third ranked on the latest U Sports
rankings heading into Friday, the Gaels looked to start hot and get a jump on their competition
early, and they did just that.

The Gaels looked to set the tone with defensive intensity through a fairly low scoring first
quarter. Queens brought out their full court press throughout the opening quarter leaving the
Ridgebacks lost at times in transition, resulting in big time stops on the defensive end, and a 17-
11 lead. Forward Michael Kevin II was dominating both sides of the ball in the first quarter with 2
blocks and plays on the offensive end that excited the Queens side and the Gaels fed off his
intensity. A big dunk and block on back-to-back possessions, from Kevin highlighted the first
quarter of play, and the Gaels continued to feed off this momentum into the second.

Guard Fofo Adetogun led the charge for the Gaels at the start of the second quarter with a
couple explosive plays on the offensive side to quickly extend the Gaels lead. Quick ball
movement and aggressive moves to the bucket led to lots of second quarter success, but a last
second 3 pointer from the ridgebacks closed the lead a bit as the Gaels headed in to half time
up 13, 37-24. Highlighting play from the second quarter saw a tough defensive series lead to a
Cole Syllas, Kevin Love-esque full court pass resulting in a massive two-handed jam, and great
momentum continued for the Gaels into half time.

The start of the second half saw the Gaels lead fall quickly to single digits, after the Ridgebacks
came out with high intensity leading to easy transition points for the visitors this time, and big
stops. Kevin had a block and made 3 to slow down Ridgeback momentum, and the Gaels didn’t
slow down regaining their lead and carried it into the fourth quarter.

The Gales took a 12 point lead in to the fourth quarter as they looked to close out the game, but
the Ridgebacks did not go away easily as they found themselves down only 7 with 5 minutes
remaining. Ontario techs come back attempts were stopped short however, as Cole Syllas hit a
turnaround jumper to ice the game out for the Gaels and move the lead up to 20 late in the
fourth in the final minute

A back-and-forth end to the game saw hard work on the defensive side by the Gaels lead them
to a victory as they continued to start their season hot, and remain undefeated over the visiting
Ontario Tech Ridgebacks.

Final score Gaels: 74 Ridgebacks: 53