SHERBROOKE, Que. - The Bishop's Gaiters men's basketball team opens non-conference play this weekend, as they host the Queen's Gaels and the Ottawa Gee-Gees this weekend at the Mitchell Gym. The Gaiters take on the Gaels on Friday night at 7 p.m., with the Ottawa game set for Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
Rod Gilpin's team has 10 returning players from last season, most notably five third-year players, led by Abdul Kamane (Montreal, Que./Vanier College), the 2016 RSEQ rookie of the year. The Montrealer averaged 13 points and 6.4 rebounds per game last season to lead the Gaiters' returnees. A veteran presence on the Gaiters comes from fifth-year forward David Belanger (Sherbrooke, Que./Champlain-St. Lambert), who averaged 11.3 points and 6.1 rebounds in an injury-shortened 2016-17 season.
 
Friday is the first meeting for the Gaiters and Gaels since 2013. Since the end of OUA-Quebec interlock play in 2001, the teams have met five times in non-conference games, with the Gaels holding a 3-2 edge in those games. However, the Gaiters have won the last two meetings, an 80-72 win at the Queen's Invitational in 2013, and a 67-61 triumph two years earlier. This is the Gaels' first trip to Lennoxville since Jan. 20, 2001, an 85-79 Bishop's win. Last year, the Gaels went 10-20 overall (7-12 OUA) and were eliminated in the first round of the OUA playoffs.
 
Sunday's opponent, the Ottawa Gee-Gees, will be a stern test for the Gaiters, as they went 26-6 overall (16-3 OUA), and finished fourth in the OUA last season. The teams have met eight times since 2001, with Ottawa holding a 6-2 lead in the series. The most famous of those wins was on March 12, 2015, when Ottawa outlasted Bishop's 91-85 in a CIS quarterfinal in Toronto. The Gee-Gees' last trip to Lennoxville was on Feb. 17, 2001, a 93-49 win for the Gaiters in the final season of the OUA East-Quebec interlock schedule.
 
After this weekend, the Gaiters will spend Thanksgiving weekend in British Columbia, taking on the University of Victoria in Langford, B.C., before a pair of games at the UBC Invitational. They return home on Oct. 21 for another non-conference game, this time against the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks.