The U of T men’s basketball team faced Ryerson last Friday night at the Athletic Centre in a do-or-die game to keep their playoff hopes alive. Back-to-back wins against the Rams would allow the Blues to clinch the final OUA East playoff spot. However, the play of Ryerson’s 6-9” big man Jon Reid, and a combination of mental breakdowns and poor perimeter shooting in the second half, led to a 73-66 loss.
Ryerson jumped on U of T early, building a 13-4 lead, which included back-to-back lay-ups and a three-pointer by Reid. 6-4” Blues forward Toby Scott battled Reid in the post all night and was able to use his quickness to force four steals. Despite his efforts, the weak side defensive help often arrived late, allowing easy hoops. Reid finished with 22 points on 9-14 shooting and seven rebounds. Scott was solid, scoring 14 points on 6-12 shooting with five boards.
“Jon’s a very good player. He can hit the three and score inside. I thought Toby did a good job trying to front Jon. Our game plan was not to let Jon Reid touch the ball—it’s hard to do sometimes,” said Blues coach Mike Dodig of the match up.
Midway through the half, the Blues stepped up their man-to-man defence, forcing Ryerson into numerous turnovers. Matt Sturgeon drained three turnaround jumpers and Joe Heale got the small but enthusiastic crowd on its feet with a Ron Artest-style steal and lay-up that made his high school coach Bob Stacey, who was in attendance, proud. U of T went to the locker room leading 36-32.
Mental breakdowns hurt the Blues in the second half. Ryerson continuously burned U of T on in-bound plays for inexcusable lay-ups.
“In the second half we made them pay for being in a zone— especially on the end lines, we got some very easy stuff,” Ryerson coach Terry Haggerty said.
Trailing by three with a minute left, Dodig designed what Scott referred to as “our go-to play, for our best three point shooter.” After an initial brick, Kenny Hilborn got the ball back and his second shot looked as pure as a Dell Curry jumper before rimming out. U of T had a third chance but Paul Zyla’s off-balance three point bank shot went around the rim and out.
With 4.6 seconds remaining and still down by three, Zyla appeared to be nudged out of bounds near half-court by Ryerson defender Errol Jones. To U of T’s surprise, no call was made and Ryerson was able to drain two free throws and score at the buzzer to win 73-66.
Squandered chances were the story of the season for the Blues, who finished 6-17 following a meaningless 74-68 win at Ryerson Saturday night. If Toronto is to make the playoffs next year, Heale, Scott, and Michael Williams need to step up, and versatile forward Kenny Hilborn must improve his highly questionable shot selection that has frustrated teammates and yielded a feeble 37 per cent success rate.
Photograph by Simon Turnbull
