Weekend Recap: #7 Gee-Gees grind out two road wins

Though the last two games of the semester may not have been pretty, the U SPORTS seventh-ranked Gee-Gees men's basketball team were able to grid out two wins on the road at Guelph and Algoma.

After suffering losses in two of their first three conference games, the Gee-Gees have righted the ships en route to seven consecutive wins heading into the exam break.

Two high energy and high emotion wins over McMaster and Brock the weekend before had the Gee-Gees needing to get through the final weekend of the semester unscathed on a tough road trip.

Against Guelph, the Gryphons came out hungry, answering all of the production from the Gee-Gees offence. The hosts held a slim 21-20 lead after the first frame, in the second, the Gee-Gees started building a lead outscoring the Gryphons 21-15 to hold a five-point lead at the break.

The tight play continued in the second half, with Guelph shooter Tommy Yanchus catching fire from beyond the arc, the Gee-Gees needed to adjust their tactics to stay in the game. In the third quarter, the point guard paring of Calvin Epistola and Kevin Civil paced the Ottawa attack, while in the fourth, the team turned to veteran guard Brandon Robinson to lead the team to victory.

Robinson scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Gee-Gees to a tight 83-81 win. Overall, Epistola led the way with 21 points, and four rebounds, assists, and steals. Robinson finished with 19 points on the night, while Civil added a solid 16 points, three steals, and three rebounds.

On Sunday against Algoma, the Gee-Gees came out firing, building up a 13-point lead en route to putting up 27 points in the first frame. Despite the production seen throughout the game, the Gee-Gees had difficulties holding onto the ball, giving the Thunderbirds 21 points on 17 turnovers.

Algoma, fresh from a solid performance against Carleton on Friday limited the Gee-Gees to a slight 12-point third quarter. The Thunderbirds had confidence to operate, racking up a 10-point lead mid-way through the the third frame. Ball security was also key for the hosts as they only forfeited three turnovers throughout.

In the fourth quarter, the Gee-Gees showed the dominant team they should be, outscoring the Thunderbirds 27-17 as they closed out the 87-81 win.

Key for the Gee-Gees was their shooting from both the field and from the line, shooting 50.8 per cent and 92.9 per cent respectively.

Guillaume Pépin set a new career-high with 26 points to go along with 11 rebounds on the game. Gage Sabean added 21 points and five rebounds, while Epistola had 19 points, eight rebounds, and three assists in the win.

The Gee-Gees will be off for the exam break before returning to action with a big road trip to play Toronto and U SPORTS third-ranked Ryerson on Jan. 5 and 6.