WEEKEND RECAP: #5 Gee-Gees get two wins in Northern Ontario

The nationally fifth-ranked Gee-Gees men's basketball team defeated OUA East foes Laurentian and Nipissing in a strong road weekend in Sudbury and North Bay. In a Friday night battle at Laurentian, Ottawa defeated the Voyageurs 59-51, before earning a 84-66 win over Nipissing on Saturday.

Led by an outstanding performance by fifth-year captain Dragan Stajic, who had 18 points, six rebounds, and two steals, the Gee-Gees fended off a scrappy Laurentian team to earn a solid road win. Justin Ndjock-Tadjore had 11 points, four rebounds, three steals, and two assists, while Jacques-Mélaine Guemeta had 10 points and six rebounds in the win.

Ottawa climbed out of a halftime deficit with a massive 14-6 third quarter effort, locking down on defence to hold off the Voyageurs and secure the win.

Against Nipissing on Saturday, the Gee-Gees had six players scoring in double figures in a win over the Lakers. Ottawa was led by freshman Owen Kenney's 17 points and five rebounds off the bench. Ankit Choudhary had 15 points and four assists, while Ndjock-Tadjore (13 pts. / 7 reb.), Brock Newton (13 pts./ 5 rebs.), Khalifa Koulamallah (11 pts. / 7 reb.), and Stajic (10 pts. / 8 reb) rounded out Ottawa's top scorers.

Like Friday night's affair in Sudbury, the Gee-Gees rebounded from a tough second quarter effort with a big showing in the third to springboard the win. In all, the Gee-Gees shot 43.5 percent from the field and outscored Nipissing 32-22 in the paint.

The Gee-Gees improve to 13-2 on the regular season and with an all OUA East schedule remaining, including two matchups with division leader Queen's (13-1), it will be an exciting race to the playoffs in the East.

Up Next:

Ottawa will have a rematch with Nipissing at Montpetit Hall on Friday night and Laurentian on Saturday afternoon. The games are set for 8 p.m. and 5 p.m. respectively. Tickets are available at tickets.geegees.ca and the games will be streaming live on OUA.tv.