LIONS FACE VARSITY BLUES IN OUA EAST QUARTER-FINAL
After a thrilling end to the 2009-10 regular season, the York University Lions men's basketball team will take on the Toronto Varsity Blues in an OUA playoff game on Wednesday night (Feb. 24) at the Athletic Centre Sports Gym.
The Lions needed a pair of wins over the Laurentian Voyageurs in the final two games of the regular season just to get into the playoffs and they accomplished the feat in nail-biting fashion, recording a 66-59 come-from-behind victory in Sudbury, Ont., in the first game and then hanging on for a thrilling 85-83 win at home on Saturday night in the season finale.
The triumphs clinched the sixth seed in the OUA East and assured head coach Bob Bain a trip to the post-season for the 34th time in his illustrious 37-year career with the York men's basketball program.
The Lions (6-16) enter Wednesday's contest coming off their first back-to-back wins of the season but will be in tough against third-seeded cross-town rivals the Varsity Blues. Toronto (12-10) went 2-0 versus the Lions in regular-season action with an 87-84 victory at York on Jan. 23 and a 77-58 win at home on Feb. 12. Toronto is 6-4 against York in the postseason since their first meeting in 1981. The Blues have won six out of the last seven games, however, the Lions took the most recent playoff game, 97-62, in 2003-04.
Second-year guard David Tyndale (Mississauga, Ont.) was the Lions' leading scorer in the regular season, finishing 11th in the OUA with 16.47 points per game. Rookie Dejan Kravic (London, Ont.) is the team's best big man under the basket, leading all Lions with 8.82 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. Those totals put him in fourth in the OUA in rebounding and first in blocks.
Fifth-year guard Rob Paris (St. Catharines, Ont.) led the Blues and finished the year ranked 13th in the OUA with 15.63 points per game, while fellow veteran Nick Magalas (Burlington, Ont.) ended his senior season with 15.09 points per game.
Both reached their 1000th career point in the latter half of the season, while Paris established a new Blues regular season single-game scoring record against the Lions, scoring 46 points on Jan. 23.
Third-year forward Drazen Glisic (Sarajevo, BIH) finished the season ranked second in the province with a 58.2 FG% and sixth with eight boards per game.
Tickets for the game are $10 for adults and $5 for youth and non-U of T students while U of T students and children 12 and under are free. The game will also be webcast live starting at 8pm on Wednesday night through ssncanada.ca and varsityblues.ca.
With files from Toronto Varsity Blues sport information
