Here is the tournament website for Saskatchewan - no webcast this weekend but live stats for each game.
Lakehead tips off against Concordia at 730pm eastern time today.
http://www.grahamshootout.com/
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Henry Tan Lakehead's 1st 2013 Recruit
Wolves land Tan
Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com
Prized basketball recruit Henry Tan (right) speaks Saturday with Lakehead University athletic director Tom Warden.
Heavily recruited and fielding offers from Division I schools, Tan was among Canada’s top emerging basketball stars. But then injury took his toll, and facing surgery to repair a torn ACL, the offers began to dry up.
But, as they say, when one door closes, another opens, and in Tan’s case, it’s led him to Thunder Bay, where Lakehead University coach Scott Morrison on Saturday named him the first major recruit in the nation to commit for 2012-13.
The six-foot point guard who will have surgery on Nov. 2 and require up to eight months to recover, said it’s not going to be easy to sit on the sidelines, but he’s trying to look at the positives for now.
“It’s going to be pretty tough, but I’m going to stay positive. I know I’m going to have all my teammates and all the fans supporting me. I’m just going to take my time and really take the rehab seriously and do it correctly and I can’t wait to play next year,” said Tan a two-time provincial high school champion with Thornhill’s Vaughan Voyageurs who scored 23 points in the OFSAA AAAA final against Eastern Commerce last winter to secure the second title.
The Thunderwolves are in desperate need of standout players to fill a coming void. Yoosrie Salhia, Greg Carter, Ben Johnson and Joseph Jones are all hitting the real world next spring following graduation.
But with a solid base of younger players, like British import Joseph Hart and former NCAA guard Dwayne Harvey already in the fold, and potential all-Canadian Ryan Thomson back for a final season, adding someone with Tan’s pedigree is a great way for Lakehead to continue its recent string of success.
Tan thinks he’s up to the task.
“I’m a player who’s a pass-first point guard. I like to get my teammates the ball first and if I need to score, I can do that as well,” he said Saturday.
“I also like to get up and down in transition. I like to create tempo, bring defence, bring energy on the defensive side of the court.”
The disappointment surrounding his injury still lingers.
He knows he could be playing south of the border right now, but he’s not dwelling on what ifs.
“I think everything happens for a reason … It’s a learning experience,” said Tan, who had interest from Princeton and Northeastern, to name just a couple of schools that came calling.
Morrison said it’s a testament to the LU program that someone of Tan’s calibre would consider the school, injury or not.
“I think our program is in a state where we should be able to attract the top players, but still there are some natural recruiting challenges that we have. And to get a guy like Henry this early in the recruiting season, not only is he a great pick-up, but I think he’s going to build us some momentum heading into the winter trying to get some guys around him.”
As Morrison said, the Wolves have to rebuild no matter what, but would like to follow the seamless transition model favoured by perennial contenders Carleton and the University of British Columbia.
“If we want to be considered with the Carletons and the UBCs, we have to be able to replace guys without missing a beat. And the key to that is bringing in a few first-year guys that will be able to make an impact without the experience,” Morrison said, happy with the surgeon’s prognosis for Tan’s recovery.
“This is the first step.”
Beyond the arc: The Wolves are hitting the road for the remainder of the preseason and heading west. They leave on Wednesday for Saskatchewan, where they’ll play in a tournament against Concordia, Regina and Saskatchewan. Next up is the west coast, where they’ll play the University of Victoria next Wednesday, then take the ferry to the mainland to play Fraser Valley, Northern B.C. and UBC.
Friday, October 5, 2012
LU Completes Weekend Sweep
Media Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 5, 2012
T-Wolves Sweep Series With Wesmen
THUNDER BAY, Ont. -
Lakehead got contributions from the whole team, which shot very well from the floor (51%), and even better from beyond the arc (15-23, 65%). The free throw shooting woes of Thursday's game seemed to disappear as well, as they improved to 71% (17-24) from the stripe.
Five Thunderwolves scored in double digits, led by Matt Schmidt and Ben Johnson with 16 points apiece, while big men Anthony McIntosh and Ryan Thomson had 10 points each. Joe Hart went 4-5 from the floor for 11 eleven points. In his best game yet in a Thunderwolves uniform, Brandon Myketa (Thunder Bay) came off the bench for 3 points, an assist and a rebound in 9 minutes of play.
Wesmen Jordan Clennon had a game-high 20 points to go with 4 assists. Point guard Andrew Cunningham had 10 points and 8 assists, and Benny Iko had 16 points and 5 rebounds for the Wesmen.
Said coach Scott Morrison, "I thought our offensive game was much improved tonight from Thursday's effort - we shot well both nights but tonight I felt we earned good looks with intelligent decisions off penetration. However, our defense and rebounding is not ready to compete with the best right now. Credit to Winnipeg for exposing a lot of holes in our team D tonight - we were just fortunate to be feeling it from outside enough to hold them off. Our team gets a much deserved break as we close the first portion of our pre-season. We're looking forward to getting rested and back to the workshop in practice next week."
The remainder of Lakehead's pre-season games will be played on the road.
Stay up to date on everything Lakehead men's basketball on their blog.
The remainder of Lakehead's pre-season games will be played on the road.
Stay up to date on everything Lakehead men's basketball on their blog.
Lakehead 84 Winnipeg 75 Game 1 (Highlights & Recap)
Media Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 4, 2012
Men's Hoops Survive Scare From Wesmen
THUNDER BAY, Ont -
Things got ugly early in the game, as Lakehead went to the foul line 11 times in the first ten minutes, connecting on only 4. Despite their shooting woes, they still led 21-9 after the first Q. Early in the second quarter, however, head coach Scott Morrison objected to some of the officiating, at which point he was ejected from the game.
Without the Thunderwolves' admiral commanding his fleet, much of what defines Lakehead as a team would be thrown overboard. Game play deteriorated, energy lacked, and the Winnipeg Wesmen took advantage of their superior group of athletes against a Lakehead defence that was desperately trying to find its rhythm. In the 2nd and 3rd quarters, Winnipeg out-scored LU 28-21 and 23-19, leaving many in the stands to wonder if they would indeed see the first Lakehead defeat this early in the year, and on home court no less.
When they were against the ropes and desperate for an answer, Ryan Thomson did connect on some clutch shots, going 10-17 from the floor (3-5 from 3pt) and 4-5 from the stripe for 27 points in 32 minutes. Rookie Joe Hart poured in 15 points while Yoosrie Salhia and Joe Jones cleaned the glass, grabbing 8 and 7 rebounds, respectively. Matt Schmidt (Thunder Bay) played an efficient game, going 6 of 8 from the field for 13 points, 5 rebounds and a blocked shot in 16 minutes of play.
Winnipeg's Jordan Clennan led the Wesmen with 19 points and 5 rebounds, while sharp shooter Travis Krahn hit three 3-pointers en route to 17 points. Mark McNee was large in the paint, going 3-3 from the floor, grabbing 7 rebounds and blocking 4 shots.
Assistant coach Matt Erdman, who served as head coach for the final 26 minutes of game, mentioned post-game, "The guys didn't have the energy we usually have. With our veterans, we should have more energy when we encounter that type of adversity. Tonight was a whole different ball game. We were lucky we had Thomson, and Yoos and Schmidt step up." Erdman continued, "Credit to Winnipeg for making us play their style of basketball. They played tough and got us out of our comfort zone."
The two teams will rematch tomorrow evening at 7pm in the Thunderdome.
Assistant coach Matt Erdman, who served as head coach for the final 26 minutes of game, mentioned post-game, "The guys didn't have the energy we usually have. With our veterans, we should have more energy when we encounter that type of adversity. Tonight was a whole different ball game. We were lucky we had Thomson, and Yoos and Schmidt step up." Erdman continued, "Credit to Winnipeg for making us play their style of basketball. They played tough and got us out of our comfort zone."
The two teams will rematch tomorrow evening at 7pm in the Thunderdome.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Weekend Preview; Wolves Welcome Wesmen
Media Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 2, 2012
Wesmen Visit Thunderdome This Weekend
THUNDER BAY, Ont. -
The exhibition season continues for Lakehead's basketball programs over the Thanksgiving weekend, with men's basketball entertaining the Winnipeg Wesmen at home and the women in Winnipeg at the BOB FM Shootout.
Men's Basketball
The men's basketball team's last home games of their pre-season schedule will happen Thursday and Friday evening versus the Winnipeg Wesmen. The T-Wolves took both games from the Wesmen the last time they played (Homecoming 2011) by scores of 80-68 and 92-61. With some new faces on both teams, this year's matchup between Lakehead and Winnipeg will be another opportunity for younger Thunderwolves to get some run in the Thunderdome, and for Winnipeg to try and exact some revenge after last year's defeats.
Coach Scott Morrison is glad to have another pre-season home game in front of the best fans in the country, as he mentions, "We are fortunate to get back-to-back weekends at home during non-conference play and are going to be working hard to not disappoint our home fans after such a great atmosphere they provided us with to start the season last weekend." He continues, "Winnipeg is a well coached team with some developing players that are out to make a jump up the ladder this season. It will be a good test for us to see if we can improve some areas of weakness that showed versus Brandon and also remain consistent with some of our strengths. Each weekend gets tougher from here on out and it is important we establish that we too will get better as a team each time out."
Injuries:
Nate Wainwright - Doubtful
Brendan King - Out
Game time is 7pm EST, Thursday and Friday evening in the Thunderdome. Games will be webcast on SSN Canada.
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