OSHAWA, Ont. – Contrary to Friday night's action, the Ontario Tech University men's basketball team had a slow start as they lost their second preseason game 82-58 to the Concordia Stingers.
Concordia outscored Ontario Tech 22-9 in the opening quarter – including 66 per cent shooting (4-for-6) from behind the arc – but the Ridgebacks bounced back as each team scored 19 apiece in the second quarter.
The third was another rough quarter for the Ridgebacks as Concordia was over 50 per cent from three again and outscored them 26-7. They improved in the fourth, but it was too late to mount a comeback.
"We played two quality programs that played their game," said head coach
Greg Francis. "Concordia is a tough team and you have to limit their threes. We didn't do that and they got a big lead on us. We started playing well in the fourth quarter, but they opened a lead that was too big for us to overcome. These two teams helped us improve and more importantly showed us some of the best U SPORTS basketball we can find."
Graddy Kanku (Ottawa, Ont.) and
Rahsean Neil-Simpson (Ottawa, Ont.) were in double-digit scoring for Ontario Tech with 13 and 11 points respectively. Kanku also pulled in seven boards and had the team's only block.
Four Stingers were in double digits, led by a game-high 15 points by Aleksander Simeunovic.
The Ridgebacks will wrap up preseason action next weekend with three games in three days in Alberta, starting with the Alberta Golden Bears on Friday night. They finish with games against the Lethbridge Pronghorns and MacEwan Griffins.
Overall Record: 0-2
Conference Record: 0-0
Next Game: Friday, Oct. 11 @ Alberta Golden Bears (6 p.m. – Edmonton, Alta.)
