Quebec City, QC — The uOttawa Gee-Gees’ quarterfinal matchup with the UQAM Citadins was an imperfect game in what has been an imperfect month.
Strong offensive pefermances but also missing easy shots, lockdown defense at points, leaky defence at points. At the end of the afternoon though the way uOttawa managed to do so many times across the bulk of the 2023-2024 season, they pulled it out, taking a 78-71 win over UQAM.
For Brock Newton, even if the game was imperfect what mattered more was it did for their confidence.
“We haven’t had the best last month,” Newton said. “So just getting our feet under us was important in this game and just realizing that we’re still a top team in this nation.”
The #6-seed Gee-Gees, the defending OUA champions heading into the 2024 postseason, crashed out of the 2024 Wilson Cup playoffs with an 81-58 loss to the Brock Badgers in the quarterfinal.
Still though, thanks to their 19-3 record the Gee-Gees had a strong enough record to earn the at-large bid and the #6 seed, matching up against the RSEQ champion #3-seed UQAM Citadins. An extra week without action though meant the Gee-Gees had a little bit more time to lick their wounds, which they know helped them.
“If we had played this game a week ago, right away, the first two or three days we did not look good, we were shell-shocked a little bit,” Gee-Gees head coach James Deroiun said. “As the week progressed, practice got better and better and better, I saw our swagger come back.”
For the Gee-Gees, perhaps the biggest question coming into the night was rust. That was until Brock Newton opened the game, hitting his first four shots, and the rust felt like it was gone.
The Citadins were not going to fold, though. Led by Kevin Civil, a former uOttawa Gee-Gee who transferred east and won back-to-back RSEQ titles with the Citadins, UQAM cut the Gee-Gees lead to just three points at halftime at 38-35.
Civil picked up 14 points for UQAM, including hitting four of his eight attempts from deep.
Into the second half, the Citadins and Gee-Gees continued to duke it out. Shot for shot, the score held tied for most of the quarter, as it was the strong play of Brock Newton that kept the Gee-Gees in the game.
Newton scored five points in the quarter on his way to 23 points in the game and player of the game honours for the Gee-Gees.
A last-second shot from Cole Newton put Ottawa up 55-48 through three and in the fourth quarter, the Gee-Gees finally pulled away. Dran Stajic hit a jumper to make it 67-60 with 2:26 to play before Kevin Otoo hit a dagger three to push the lead to eleven with 1:45. Free throws across the last 90 seconds pushed the final score to 78-71 for uOttawa, booking a ticket to semifinal Saturday.
The Gee-Gees move on to play the winner of Queen’s and Winnipeg while the Citadins flip over to the consolation bracket for a matchup with the loser tomorrow afternoon.
With the win the uOttawa Gee-Gees have cleared the first hurdle to their program’s first national title, and with a heavy Ottawa contingent on hand in Quebec City, they have a lot of people in their corner as they move forward.
“We have such a good support group, from the alumni to just the people we see every day.” Newton said.
“It’s truly special to be a part of it, and I hope we can show up for them and make them proud.”