SHERBROOKE, Que. – The Bishop's Gaiters continue non-conference play this weekend as they head to Ottawa this weekend for the annual Jack Donohue Invitational. The tournament is a six-team event, featuring three Quebec teams (Bishop's, Concordia, McGill) each playing three OUA teams (Toronto, Waterloo and Ottawa).
The Gaiters will take on the host Ottawa Gee-Gees on Friday at 8 p.m., the Waterloo Warriors on Saturday at 6 p.m. and close out tournament play on Sunday at noon against the Toronto Varsity Blues. The Friday game will be webcast on
www.oua.tv.
The Gaiters are 3-4 overall (2-3 vs. U Sports), having taken one of three games during their tour of Alberta last week. They downed Mount Royal 89-69, before losing a pair of close games to the Lethbridge Pronghorns. In their five games against Canadian foes,
Abdul Kamane has led the Gaiters with 13.2 points per game, while
David Belanger (Sherbrooke, Que.) has 12.0 and
Jona Bermillo (Montreal, Que.) has 11.4. Belanger is leading the Gaiters with 8.0 rebounds per game, while Bermillo has averaged 5.4 assists to date.
The Gaiters-Gee Gees matchup on Friday will be a rematch of the 2015 CIS quarter-final, which the Gee-Gees won 91-85 in overtime. Since 2009, the Gee-Gees have gone 5-2 against Bishop's. Ottawa is 6-3 overall (3-1 U Sports) after going undefeated at the Tindall Invitational in Kingston.
Saturday's opponent, the Waterloo Warriors, are 3-3 overall (1-1 U Sports). Their only game against an RSEQ team so far this year was a 99-71 loss to UQAM at the Naismith Invitational. The Gaiters are 3-5 against the Warriors since 1998. Their last meeting was a 72-49 win for Bishop's at the UQAM tournament in 2012.
U of T, who the Gaiters face on Sunday, is 5-3 overall, but has played only two U Sports games so far this year, a 105-69 win over Memorial and an 81-70 win over Guelph. Last year, they were 7-20 vs. CIS teams (5-14 OUA) and lost in the first round of the OUA playoffs. The Varsity Blues and Gaiters have met in every year since 2009, except for 2011, and the Blues have gone 4-2 against Bishop's in that span.
After this weekend, the Gaiters will head to New England next week for a pair of exhibition games and their first time on home floor will be the RSEQ season opener, on Saturday, Nov. 12.
