Western Gazette Article on Friday's Game vs Queen's

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Mustangs end losing skid in dominating way

December 6, 2011
By Christian Campbell Western Gazette

Looks like the sixth time was the charm on Friday night as the Western Mustangs finally snapped their five game losing streak by defeating the Queen’s Gaels 85-64.

Alumni Hall was filled with a raucous crowd of elementary school children that cheered every Mustangs basket and booed every Gaels score, and Mustangs head coach Brad Campbell believes the support fuelled his team.

“We had a little bit more energy out there. We just seem to play a little harder and have a little bit more energy at home. The big crowd helped us today,” he said.

The Mustangs came out of the gate quickly, opening up a 9-2 advantage in the first three minutes of the game.

However, the Gaels responded with back-to-back three-pointers from Matt Baker and Mackenzie Simpson, cutting the Mustang’s early lead to one.

The two teams then began to battle for the advantage.

The Mustangs connected on multiple three-pointers, however they were unable to pull away because the Gaels’ swarming interior defence forced the Mustangs to commit several turnovers, which led to points on the other end for Queen’s.

By the end of the first quarter, the Mustangs had a five-point advantage with a score of 21-16.

In the second frame, the Gaels looked to slow the Mustangs’ offence down with a full-court press that transitioned into a 2-3 zone. However the Mustangs countered with crisp passing and deadeye three-point shooting.

On the game the Mustangs shot a scorching 51 percent from beyond the arc, hitting 17 three-pointers in total.

Leading the way was starting point guard Ryan Barbeau, who in the quarter played the role of zone buster by connecting on three of his game-high six three-pointers.

“Barbeau is a great three-point shooter—Higgins as well. And in their home gym they were shooting the ball a lot better than they have in their last few games. Unfortunately, defensively we gave them too many open looks and they knocked them all down,” Chris Aim, Queen’s assistant coach, said.

With their defence unable to stem the tide, the Gaels looked for help from their offence to keep pace with the high scoring Mustangs.

However, Western used an aggressive man-to-man defensive scheme to prevent the Gaels from getting any open looks at the basket, and Queen’s subsequently went cold from the field.

They were unable to find a rhythm offensively and the Mustangs doubled Queen’s score in the quarter, outscoring them 26-13.

At halftime the score was 47-29 for the Mustangs.

Looking to avoid the second half letdown that has typified their games as of late, the Mustangs came out playing a full-court press in the third.

This forced the Gaels into multiple turnovers as they struggled to get the ball up the court against the speedy Mustangs defenders. The steals led to fast breaks for the Mustangs and allowed them to continue to extend their lead.

Leading the way once again was Ryan Barbeau, who finished the game with three steals.

“Our defensive energy in the first three quarters was outstanding. Our pressure really helped us today,” he said.

The third quarter also marked a significant milestone in Barbeau’s career. At the midway point of the third quarter, he scored his 1,000th career point as a Western Mustang.

Unsurprisingly, the point came off of a fast-break lay-up.

“I knew about the milestone heading into the game. I can’t say that I wasn’t thinking about it, I was a little bit, but my main focus today was just getting a win,” Barbeau said.

Barbeau finished the game with 32 points and six assists.

At the end of the third, the Mustangs had once again doubled the Gaels’ output, outscoring them 24-12, pushing their lead to 71-42.

However, the Gaels showed heart in the final quarter. They crashed the offensive boards, played physical defence and began to connect on three-pointers, refusing to give up on the game. The Gaels outscored the Mustangs 23-14 in the final quarter.

“We have to play 40 minutes of consistent basketball. We’ve been getting better as the year has gone on, playing well for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 25 minutes, but we haven’t yet been able to put together a full game,” Aim said.

However, when the final buzzer sounded, the Mustangs had still pulled out a rather lopsided 85-64 victory.