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Sweet a morning game. I like those as I can typically tune in from the office :)

Nice free throw shooting, Hong Kong.

After our loss on the road to Israel last week, we're in a must win situation every week the rest of the way. Today against Hong Kong, the bounces went our way, and we pulled out an exciting 89-88 win on the road.

The details of the game were a bit strange. Hong Kong destroyed us at possession differential, while also shooting the ball well, going 39-81 from the field. Luckily for us, they were a disastor at the free throw line, with only 9 of 26 attempts going in. Our own shooting from the field was even better than Hong Kong's, as we hit 39 of only 69 shot attempts. We also knocked in 10 FTs on only 15 attempts. Our superior percentages were the difference in the game.

Our PF/Cs had a great night, combining for 58 of our points. Wilbur had an amazing 27 on 11-15 shooting, with Richards adding 23 on 9-15, and Demers putting up 8 on 4-6. The only significant source of "misses" for us was Herman Kearns, who still managed to go 5-13 for 11 points. The game winning shot, with 4 seconds left, was a jumper by Govardhan Mohan, who put up another solid performance. Richards then closed things out by successfully guarding a jump shot at the buzzer.

Next week, we get to play on our home court, with a game against Iran. Hopefully we can have another good game, and keep our chances of making the consolation round playoffs alive.

Last edited by The Mogul at 2/21/2011 2:37:16 PM

After securing wins over Iran and Algeria in recent weeks, the U21 pulled off a third straight victory, with a thrilling 82-75 OT win against Latvia. This win slotted Canada into the 29th seed for the consolation round playoffs. Next week, we will be facing 4th seed Russia on the road. This game should be an even greater challenge for us, but for now, the season is still alive.

In order to beat Latvia, we needed some luck, as well as some great performances. Here are some highlights from the game:
- Strong play from all of our guys off the bench. Tim Emerson was especially impressive, dropping 10 points in 11 minutes with incredible efficiency.
- Govardhan Mohan posting a team high +16 at the PG spot, and icing the game late in OT with some clutch FTs.
- Our SGs holding the Latvian SGs to a combined 2-28 shooting night (and 0-14 from 3!). Kearns and Chretien were channeling Bruce Bowen all game long.
- Germain Demers making a positive impact at SF, and had a huge game, including a game tying buzzer beater at the end of regulation. He also scored a key basket in OT, to produce what turned out to be the game winning lead.
- Glenn Richards continuing to beast at C, filling up the box score with a game high 19 points and 19 rebounds. His long U21 career is going to be over soon, and he will definately be missed.
- The great defensive play from both teams. Every point was crucial all game long. This made the poor FT shooting from both teams an especially key factor in the game. Canada finished at 16-32, but was just 8-22 at the end of regulation. The Latvians only managed to go 10-25, and some key misses from Latvia kept us in the game late in the 4th quarter.

The U21 has had plenty of exciting games this season, with the matches against Taiwan, Belgium, Hong Kong, and Latvia all going down to the wire. Regardless of the results against Russia next week, I'm pleased with how the team has played this season, and at least for me, it has been a fun group of players to root for.

U21 update time!

Several weeks ago, Canada managed to make the consolation round playoffs, but was easily dispatched by Russia (with the final score ending up at 92-68). Since then, the U21 has been playing scrimmages every week. It actually seems like we have been playing the same scrimmage every week, looking at the scores. So far, the results have been 3 straight wins: 128-90 over Japan, 122-90 over Indonesia, and 115-88 over Germany.

This week, there will be yet another scrimmage, but with a new group of players. With the age change coming up very soon, a group of candidates for the season 16 U21 team has been added, and the graduating S15 players have been dropped from the roster. Twelve players have been chosen for the upcoming scrimmage on Monday (against Azerbaijan). While these players are all strong contendors for spots on the roster next season, there are several strong contendors that won't be playing in the scrimmage, and it will be a couple of weeks before it is time to select the actual opening roster for season 16.

Last edited by The Mogul at 4/15/2011 2:29:39 PM