On Friday, February 5, Varsity Blues men’s basketball faced off against the Royal Military College Paladins. The Blues were looking to improve their 7-9 record and advance in the OUA standings, while the Paladins were looking for their first win in over three years. Keeping the competition in mind, the heavily favoured Blues could not afford a letdown at a crucial juncture in the season.
The Paladins started the game by winning the opening tip-off. After that, they could not muster any sort of spirit and the Blues dominated the rest of the way. In what would become the theme of the night, the Blues came out pushing up the ball quickly in transition. The Blues excelled at the half court, with crisp ball movement and dominating work on offensive glass. The RMC coach called a timeout to stop the salvo, but the Blues pushed on, and led 26-9 after the first quarter. The game was decided early, as the Blues took a commanding 48-12 lead going into halftime.
Beleaguered RMC offence continued to heave shots in the third quarter, or otherwise coughed up the ball. Somehow, this was RMC’s most successful quarter of play, with top scorer Jonathan Wilson scoring nine points and one assist. RMC played a short bench throughout the game but fatigue soon set in on the part of the Paladins. Mental mistakes, such as not boxing out, and numerous travelling offenses seriously hurt their efforts on both ends of the floor.
Varsity Blues meanwhile featured all 12 active players for 10 minutes or more of playing time. These substitutions benefitted a Toronto defence that forced a whopping 28 RMC turnovers. These turnovers led to easy fast break buckets for the Blues. The catalyst for the Blues’ defensive stand was fierce man-to-man defence. The Toronto players were extremely active in blocking RMC passing lanes, and a well practiced rebounding unit out-rebounded the Paladins by 25. Leading the way defensively was Evaristus Toby, who rarely sees much playing time. Toby recorded a double-double, finishing with 11 points and 14 rebounds to go along with his three blocks. The Varsity Blues introduced a hard press in the second half, leading to more RMC turnovers and Toronto baskets.
The fourth quarter belonged to a scorching Toronto offence that hit nearly every shot they took and ran the fast break extremely effectively. The Blues scored a total of 38 points in the quarter, to finish the game with a 106-34 win over RMC. Although, the game was a severe mismatch, the Blues defeated the Paladins by only 42 points back in their first meeting of the season. Throughout Friday’s game, Toronto possessed a huge advantage physically. The Blues players blew by the soft zone of the Paladins and penetrated into the heart of the defence.
Toronto’s big men did a tremendous job of knocking elbows, resulting in open baseline jumpers that were available all game in RMC’s overmatched 2-3 zone defence. A well-balanced Toronto attack saw five players reach double figures, including the game’s high scorer, Ben Garvin, who poured in 20 points. In a game that Toronto controlled every phase of the match, the uneven score was partly indicative of the skill disparity between the two clubs, but also a result of the Varsity Blues playing a complete game.
The Blues were unfortunately unable to carry the momentum of this lopsided win into their next game, as they fell 67-62 against the Queen’s Golden Gaels.
The Blues face off next on February 12 against York, who are fresh off a stunning upset of number-one Carleton, and February 13 versus Laurentian. Both games are at the Athletic Centre.
The Varsity Blues women’s basketball team also beat RMC, 73-44.
