Gryphon men lose to York, they’ll be playoff watchers
TORONTO – After reaching the OUA men’s basketball quarter-finals last season, the Guelph Gryphons will be playoff spectators this season as they were knocked out of the playoff race Wednesday with a 97-88 loss to the York Lions at York’s Tait McKenzie Centre.
That was Guelph’s fourth consecutive loss and leaves the Gryphs 14th overall at 5-14. While the top 12 qualify for the playoffs and the Gryphs can finish in a tie for 12th with the Brock Badgers, they’d lose the tiebreaker due to a 92-91 loss at home to the Badgers Jan. 13. Waterloo Warriors and Windsor Lancers could also finish in a tie for 12th, but that won’t help the Gryphs out as they’re 1-4 in matches involving Brock, Waterloo and Windsor.
Wednesday, the Gryphs recovered from a slow start with a strong third quarter only to see York turn in a strong fourth quarter.
The Gryphs trailed 23-13 at the end of the first quarter and 51-36 at halftime, but led 71-67 at the end of the third quarter. Guelph was outscored 21-8 in the final 6:10 of the game.
Dezayne Mingo led the Gryphs with 39 points and three assists while Emmanuel Ansah had 24 points and 10 rebounds. Viktoras Nausedas had nine points and five rebounds. The Gryphs had no blocks in the game and no Gryphon had more than one steal.
Joshua Noton had 35 points and two assists while Evan Shadkami had 28 points, nine rebounds and two steals. Elias Panagiotopoulos had 12 points while Liam Rietschin had nine points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
The Gryphs shot 44 percent on field goals, 42 percent on three-pointers and 95 percent (19 of 20) on free throws. They also pulled down 25 rebounds, had six assists, no blocks and five steals, turned the ball over 14 times, had 15 points off York turnovers, 10 second-chance points and got seven points from their bench.
The Lions shot 52 percent on field goals, 45 percent on three-pointers and 89 percent on free throws and had 34 rebounds, six assists, three blocks, four steals, 10 turnovers, 15 points off Gryphon turnovers, 11 second-chance points and had their bench score 11 points.
Guelph is fourth in the OUA West, behind the Laurier Golden Hawks at 13-5, Western Mustangs at 13-6 and Waterloo at 6-12. The Gryphs lead Windsor at 4-14 and Algoma Thunderbirds at 2-16.
The Gryphs are to finish the home portion of their season Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre when they’re to host Western in their Senior Night/Alumni Day Game.
The Gryphs are to complete their season next weekend with games against fellow playoff watchers Nipissing Lakers (3-16) Friday in North Bay and Laurentian Voyageurs (2-17) Saturday in Sudbury.
- Guelph Sports Journal