Tigers weekend recap
Men鈥檚 basketball
The Tigers made history over the weekend at the CIS championships hosted by UBC. The Tigers would advance to the national semifinals for the first time. The Tigers played the three top-ranked teams in the country on route to their fourth place finish at nationals.
The championship got underway Wednesday with the annual CIS championship awards banquet where Tigers guard Jordan Aquino-Serjue was named to the CIS all-rookie team.
The next day, the Tigers played the number three seeded University of Ottawa in their quarter-final match-up. The Gee-Gees came out fast with four quick three-point buckets. The Tigers would stand their ground and took the lead after the first quarter, 29-25. The Tigers were very tough defensively as they forced the Gee-Gees to commit 24 turnovers in the game. Trailing 70-62 going into the fourth quarter, Ritchie Kanza Mata and Kashrell Lawrence helped carry the team to an 87-83 victory. The duo combined for 17 of the Tigers 25 points in the last quarter. The Tigers defence was stifling as they held Ottawa to just 13 fourth quarter points.
With the victory, the Tigers advanced to the semifinals for the first time in history to play the number two ranked Carleton Ravens on Saturday, winners of 11 of the last 13 national championships and five in a row prior to this year.
The Ravens came out fast and jumped out to a 21-10 lead in a hard-fought defensive battle in the opening half. By half time, the Tigers had closed the gap to one point and trailed the Ravens 24-23. The game opened up considerably after that as both teams either matched or surpassed their scoring totals in the third quarter. Carleton scored 30 points in the frame while the Tigers put up 23 of their own to make the score 54-46 Carleton. Kashrell Lawrence led the way for the Tigers with 18 points. Ultimately the Ravens would hold off the Tigers to win 76-66, sending the Tigers to the bronze medal game against the Ryerson Rams.
The Tigers played a tough bronze medal game against the top-ranked Ryerson Rams. The Rams led 20-11 after the first quarter and 45-30 at the half. The Tigers kept fighting and clawed their way back to bring the score to 77-73 for Ryerson with just 1:30 remaining in the game. The Tigers comeback would fall short as the Rams won the bronze medal 85-78. Kashrell Lawrence led the way for the Tigers again with 19 points and eight rebounds.
Seven Stammberger received the R.W. Pugh fair play award
Women鈥檚 Curling
The Tigers travelled to Kelowna B.C. to take part in the CIS champion. Skipped by newly crowned world champion Kristen Clarke, AV俱乐部 started their tournament off at 2-0 with wins over the University of Alberta and Brock University. The Tigers still have five matches remaining as the championships runs until March 23 when the top four teams after round robin play will compete for the medals.
Men鈥檚 Curling
Joining their fellow AUS champions at the CIS championships in Kelowna is the Tigers men鈥檚 curling team. They started their tournament off yesterday with an 8-4 loss to the University of Alberta and a 9-3 win over the Waterloo Warriors. Skipped by Matt Manuel, the Tigers will play five more round robin games and will hopefully battle for a medal with the top four teams on Wednesday.