Week of January 21-25, 2019

The boys’ varsity basketball team opened their CISAA regular season schedule this week. The Blues opened the week with a home-and-home against Saint Andrew’s College before finishing off against Crescent on Friday night for Winterfest.

 

On Monday Upper Canada College played host to SAC. In front of their home crowd the boys got off to a fast start taking a 9-4 lead after the first quarter. In the second quarter the Saints fought back to take the lead, thanks to some strong shooting and tight defense against the Blues. After the first half the visiting Saints had a 23-20 lead. In the third quarter UCC flipped the script and controlled the play, holding SAC to a single basket in the quarter, taking a 33-25 lead into the final quarter. The strong play on both ends continued in the final stanza. The Blues used some efficient shooting and continued their strong defensive play to close out the game. In the end UCC came away with a win prevailing 49-37 to open their CISAA league play with a victory.

 

On Wednesday January 23 the Blues travelled up to Aurora to face off against the Saints in the back end of a home-and-home. The hosts came out firing on all cylinders taking an 18-14 lead into the second quarter. In the second quarter the UCC boys battled hard to close the gap but entered the locker room at half down 22-27. Like their game on Monday the Blues came out strong in the third quarter. Defensively they applied enormous pressure on the Saints’ ball handlers and were aggressive on the offensive side of the ball as well. Thanks to their effort the Blues finished the quarter with a 10-point lead, entering the final quarter up 39-29. In the fourth the Blues continued their strong team play and continued to push past the Saints. The final score was a 54-37 UCC victory.

 

The final game of the week for the Blues was at home against Crescent on Winterfest. In front of the home crowd the Blues wanted to get out to a fast start and kept pace with Crescent for the early stages of the game. Early in the second quarter the teams were tied at 12. Despite their best efforts the Blues were not able to keep pace with the visitors from Crescent. At the half UCC was trailing by 12. The Blues had a tough night shooting the ball, failing to convert on a number of open looks throughout the game. This failure to finish cost UCC in the end as they lost to Crescent 57-33. The loss moved the Blues record in CISAA 2-1 for the season.

 

Next week the Blues face off against Crestwood Prep on Monday and Ridley College on Tuesday before competing in a tournament hosted by Crescent on the weekend.