Thursday, November 12th 2009

By Brian Decker

After looking like they would steamroll any team who came their way in an undefeated preseason, the McMaster men’s basketball team found their first true test of the season against the scrappy Queen’s Gaels. Despite a pesky defence and a loud arena to contend with, however, Mac showed their mettle and came out on top with a 56-50 victory.

The win followed a 94-63 beatdown of the Royal Military College Paladins, where the Marauders shot the lights out and showed off their depth and young talent. Rookie Victor Raso (Hamilton, ON) poured in eight three pointers and averaged 15 points to lead the Marauders over the two games.

The Gaels came out ready to battle Mac, currently the no. 4 team in the CIS national rankings. Led by lightning-quick point guard Baris Ondul (Istanbul, Turkey), Queen’s gave the Marauders a taste of their own medicine, putting pressure on the ball and filling the passing lanes. The high-energy defence proved effective in frustrating McMaster’s half-court offence, forcing Mac into 23 turnovers on the night.

With the pressure on, the maroon and grey turned to veteran forward Keenan Jeppesen (Stoney Creek, ON). The 6’7” standout broke down the Gaels’ defence bit-by-bit, using his superb ball control and court awareness to split double teams and get to the basket. Coming off a bout of the flu last week, Jeppesen led Mac with 16 points and 11 rebounds on the night.

After the Gaels pulled to within one point behind the play of bruising forward Mitch Leger (Kingston, ON), Jeppesen curled off a screen from pivot Ryan Christie (Hamilton, ON) and nailed a fadeaway jumper with 30 seconds on the clock. The screen-and-roll between Jeppesen and Christie proved to be an effective play all night, utilizing Christie’s size and Jeppesen’s court vision to create open looks at the basket.

“In the late minutes we had our key guys take some shots and we defended… we defended really well and rebounded really well at the end. Keenan got up and played some basketball,” said Head Coach Joe Raso, who stressed that the Marauders will need to cut down on mistakes in future contests.

Poor free throw shooting kept the Gaels in the game, with the Marauders shooting a paltry 46 per cent from the charity stripe on the night. Jeppesen struggled most all, going just 3 for 11.

In the game’s late stages, however, Mac made the ones that counted, with guards Raso, Scott Laws (Gormley, ON) and Tyrell Vernon (Hamilton, ON) helping to lock up the win.

Christie, a 6’6” rookie, registered his first career double-double, chipping in 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Against RMC, the Marauders showed off their depth and young talent, scoring 47 bench points to the Paladins’ eight. With Christie in early foul trouble and Jeppesen recovering from the flu, Mac turned to Raso for scoring punch. The 6’4” rookie calmly knocked down six threes in his conference debut, and poured in a game-high 22 points to pace McMaster.

Laws and Jermaine DeCosta (Hamilton, ON) each hit two three pointers on the way to 10-point games, while Jeppesen chipped in 12 points in just 14 minutes.

Mac’s three point shooting was the story of the night, with the maroon and grey shooting a red-hot 57 per cent from downtown. “We shot the ball incredibly well,” commented coach Raso.

As the no. 4 team in the country, Mac will have to cut down on the costly errors they made against Queen’s when the no. 8 Toronto Varsity Blues come to the Burridge Gym this weekend. While the Marauders have clearly risen to become one of the best teams in the OUA, coach Raso said it will be important to come out and prove it this weekend.

“Don’t tell me what you did to get better, prove to me that you got better,” said Raso, quoting a coat of arms outside the RMC locker room.

McMaster will host Toronto at 8 p.m. on Saturday, followed by an 8 p.m. game against last season’s OUA scoring leader Boris Bakovic (Toronto, ON) and the Ryerson Rams on Saturday.

Tags: Basketball, keenan jeppesen, Marauders, men's basketball, Ryan Christie, Scott Laws, Tyrell Vernon, Victor Raso