Release by: Martin Timmerman
The Waterloo Warriors put together 40 minutes of consistent basketball in upsetting the visiting Ottawa Gee-Gees 79-68 on Friday night at the PAC.
The Warriors Band was on hand to get the crowd in the game from the opening tip and Waterloo responded with an early 11-4 lead. Ottawa responded with an 8-0 run to take what would be their only lead of the game at 12-11. Waterloo hot shooting from three (7 of 14 in first half) built the lead to 16 midway through the second quarter. At half time Waterloo led 37-29.
In the second half Ottawa would reduce the lead a number of times, once to just 3 points. But each time they got close, Waterloo would come back and get the margin back to 8-10 points. At the 3/4 mark, Waterloo held just a four point lead at 52-48. On the first play of the final quarter, Cam McIntyre (Kitchener/Kitchener C.I.) was fouled while shooting a three and he made all three free throws. Waterloo was then able to keep the margin at 5+ for the remainder of the game. In the last 95 seconds Waterloo would shoot 16 free throws. The start of the free throw parade was shaky at just 3 for 9, but by game end they were hitting more consistently.
Ottawa had a strong rebounding edge over Waterloo, but Waterloo was hitting from long range, finishing with 40% from three point line to just 17% for Ottawa from long range. The game ending parade to the charity stripe gave Waterloo 20 points from the line.
Cam McIntyre (Kitchener/Kitchener C.I.) led the Warriors with 19 points. Luke Kieswetter (Waterloo/Kitchener C.I.) added 18 points. Wayne Bridge (North York/Eastern Commerce) added a career high 13 points for the Warriors. For Ottawa, first year guard Johnny Berhanemeskel had 18 points to lead the team. Louis Gauthier added 13 points and 9 rebounds. Warren Ward played only two minutes early in the game and then appeared to be injured and did not play again.
With the win the Warriors are 2-1 early in the OUA season. Ottawa drops to 1-2. Waterloo plays Carleton on Saturday night at the PAC, while Ottawa will visit Wilfrid Laurier.
The weekend games are part of Think Pink Weekend, a fund raising promotion for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation-Ontario Chapter. This is the third year of Waterloo participation. The donation goal for the weekend is $10,000 which has been well exceeded.
