Crusaders Too Much for Shorthanded Blue Jags

                           Photo by Mike Edwards

By: Mike Edwards

The Cambie Crusaders took a stranglehold early and didn’t look back, defeating the SMUS Blue Jags 82-52 Friday afternoon in the SMUS single gym. The win came against a shorthanded Blue Jags squad, however, with many key players including Jason Scully, Graeme Hyde-Lay, Jake Wilmott, Callum Montgomery, Matty McColl and Liam Catto being held out for rest.

 

The Blue Jags got off to a good start, jumping out to an early 5-0 lead. But the Crusaders came back with 16 unanswered points and took a 23-9 lead after one.

 

The Crusaders continued to force turnovers and expand their lead in the second, taking a 47-24 advantage into the half. Alec Keech led the way offensively with 8 points and Lucas De Vries corralled 8 rebounds to go along with 4 blocks in the opening 20 minutes.

 

The Blue Jags played the Crusaders relatively evenly in the third, but were unable to make a dent into the deficit. Heading to the fourth, the Blue Jags were down 69-40. The Crusaders coasted through the final period to close out the 82-52 triumph.

 

Alex Caton was the high scorer for the Jags, dropping in 15 points and adding 5 rebounds and 5 steals. Meanwhile, David Lee was just a rebound short of his first double double with 10 points and 9 rebounds and Max Pollen also chipped in 10 points of his own. In addition, De Vries (10 rebounds and a Blue Jags season high 7 blocks) and Angus Catto (10 rebounds) had strong efforts on the boards for the Jags.

 

"We made it hard on ourselves to stay in the game by turning the ball over so frequently but we had better ball movement in the second half that led to good looks" said Caton after the game.

 

The Blue Jags will have all hands on deck for their next test, a big one against Claremont in league play. The game will tip off at 7:30 PM at Claremont on Tuesday.