This weekend the men’s basketball team looked to secure its third-place spot in the OUA standings, as they hosted the York Lions and Laurentian Voyageurs on back-to-back nights.

Friday night the Blues battled for bragging rights against crosstown rival York in what proved to be a real backyard brawl. The Blues looked sluggish coming out of the gate, missing easy baskets and failing to get on the glass for rebounds.

York’s towering front court was too much for the undersized Blues early on, as the Lions were grabbing rebounds and getting second-chance buckets with relative ease. The Lions’ early success prompted Blues coach Mike Katz to make a key adjustment-subbing in Nick Snow and Elvis Ibrahimovic-in an attempt to match York’s size in the paint.

After finding the answer for the big men down low, the Blues’ shooters went to work. Mike Digorgio scored five points in a ten-second span with less than five minutes remaining in the half to give the Blues their first lead since the opening minute-one which they would not surrender for the remainder of the game.

The second half was dominated by Toronto. Centre Mike Williams racked up eleven defensive rebounds and denied York what had been their strength early on. On the offensive end there was no stopping Toronto, as guard Dwayne Grant sliced through York defenders like a hot knife through butter on his way to 20 points and player of the game honours.

The Blues’ balanced attack proved to be the difference in the game. Five Blues reached double digits in scoring on their way to an 86-70 victory.

After proving they could win with their offence on Friday, the Blues showed they could get the job done with defence less than 24 hours later against Laurentian. Toronto’s well-executed zone defence forced the Voyageurs into turnovers early and often, despite being outsized by their opponents once again.

When Laurentian could get a shot off, they were off the mark. The Voyageurs shot just 24 per cent from the field in the opening half.

Toronto took a 29-20 lead into the recess.

The second half began as the first ended: with Toronto’s suffocating defence denying Laurentian at every turn. Williams’ four monstrous blocks, along with his 16 points and seven rebounds, was enough to get him named player of the game in the Blues’ 62-49 victory.

The Blues will look to improve on their 4-2 record next weekend when they travel to Kingston to take on the 1-5 Queen’s Golden Gaels and the 0-6 RMC Paladins. The Blues will be at home again after the new year. They take on Laurier on January 5, 2006.

The women’s basketball team, on the other hand, has definitely seen better days. Returning from a two-game road skid, which included tough losses to Guelph and Brock, the Blues were looking to gain some much-needed momentum when they hosted their last pair of games before the winter break last Friday and Saturday.

Things did not exactly go as planned, to say the least.

York was clearly the superior squad on Friday night, as they jumped out to a lead early on and didn’t look back. Laura MacCullum sank her first three shots from beyond the arc to set the tone for the Lions.

The Blues just had no answer for MacCullum, whose shooting percentage was, interestingly enough, approximately equal to both her height in centimetres and weight in pounds (67). The little engine that couldn’t miss led all scorers in York’s 89-56 mauling of the Blues with 16 points.

Alaine Hutton and Laila Beloney contributed 11 points each, respectively, for the Blues in a losing effort.

Saturday night’s match against the Laurentian Lady Vees seemed more promising early on, as the Blues amassed a 13-point lead in the opening minutes. Foul trouble and a three-and-a-half minute scoring drought to end the half allowed Laurentian to claw back and take the lead for good before the opening stanza came to a close.

Christine Cho played inspired basketball for Toronto, amassing 18 points, 2 steals, and 6 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough. The Blues could not keep the Lady Vees off of the freethrow line in the game, which led to their doom.

Leading the charge for Laurentian was Cassandra Carpenter, who compiled 21 of her 35 points from the line. Shooting 75 per cent from the charity stripe is usually characteristic of a bad night, but when you’re there 28 times, the points still begin to add up.

With the two losses, the Blues fall to 3-4 on the season. Their next home game is on January 5, 2005. They will take on Laurier at 6 p.m. at the Athletic Centre that evening.