It will be an historic night when the Nipissing Lakers men’s basketball team takes the court Wednesday night at the RJS Athletic Centre.
In just their third season, the Lakers have earned a spot in the post-season and will host the Queens Gaels in the Preliminary Round of the OUA Playoffs.
The Lakers enter the game as winners of five of their last seven games and were 6-5 in the 2017 portion of the regular season which included a four game winning streak.
One of those wins, the third in their four game streak, came against the Queens Gaels, who they face Wednesday night.
It was a high scoring affair, with the Lakers posting a season-high 93 points, winning the game 93-84.
While that game seemed to be uncommon, the Lakers did put up points when they needed them and it came from pretty much everyone who hit the court.
Five players on the Lakers roster averaged at least 8.2 points per game, with three averaging over 10 per game, led by Marcus Lewis who put up 14.7 per outing.
Justin Shaver, in his first year with the Lakers, was just shy of averaging a double-double, picking up 12.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.
A player’s stats who may not jump off the page, but are key to any success the Lakers have and will have in the future, is Ismael Kaba, who hit a number of clutch shots during the season.
Kaba’s veteran presence and key minutes give the Lakers options in terms of offence as well as defence.
Overall, a key to much of the Lakers success during the regular season was their clean play as the team only committed 14.6 personal foul per game, the lowest mark in OUA. Couple that with the third highest rebound margin per game (4.6) and assists per game (15.6) and you have a recipe for success in the postseason. The Lakers are about as patient a team as you’ll find in the Wilson Cup playoffs, averaging only 62.4 field goal attempts per game.
In their only meeting this season, the Lakers had six players hit double digits in scoring which included Lewis, Shaver and Kaba.
Jordon Campbell, Jaaden Lewis, who has been an impressive rookie and Addy Ogunye were the others to post big numbers.
The Lakers numbers are a big skewed because of a few tough losses, but overall, their offence and defence improved as the season went along.
The team’s grittiness and battle level have made them a tough opponent and finding success on the road has been a point of pride for the team.
Playing one of the toughest divisions in Canada, along with Laurentian, Ottawa and Carleton, the Lakers quickly learned what it took to win and after improving from Year 1 to Year 2, they were able to take a huge step in 2016-17, as they are just hours away from their playoff debut.
Queens enters the game with just two wins in the 2017 portion of the season, but they did end the year with a victory.
They finished 7-12 overall, getting off to a strong start which allowed them to secure a playoff spot despite their second half struggles.
They ended the year scoring 18 more points than Nipissing while surrendering 36 more – a pretty evenly matched game when you look at the overall team numbers.
It will take another strong effort for the Lakers to come away with their first OUA playoff victory,
The No. 3 seed and defending Wilson Cup champion Ryerson Rams await the Wednesday’s winner.
The Rams defeated the Lakers back in November in their only match-up this season.
Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at what will no doubt be a loud and excited crowd at the RJS Athletic Centre.
