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Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports 11 | Wednesday, August 13, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" Loyola grad leads Ottawa to basketball wins over NCAA's Indiana, Vermont Loyola high school grad Mike L'Africain and the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees showed they can beat NCAA men's basketball opponents in two different ways. L'Africain, a point guard, posted game-high totals in points, assists and minutes played as the Gee-Gees defeated the Indiana Hoosiers 109-101 Sunday in pre-season action at Montreal's Champlain College. The following evening, Ottawa relied on its defence to down the Vermont Catamounts 73-66 on the Gee-Gees' home floor. Sunday, L'Africain shot 9-for-15 from the field -- and 6-for-8 from behind the three-point line -- and dished out six assists in 34 minutes for the Gee-Gees, finishing with 27 points. Indiana senior Kevin Ferrell and juUniversity of Ottawa Gee-Gees point guard Mike L'Africain dribbles around a Vermont Catamounts opponent Monday in Ot- niors Devin Davis, Stanford Robinson, tawa. The Loyola high school grad helped the Gee-Gees to a 73-66 victory, one night after scoring 27 points and hitting six Nick Ziesloft and Troy Williams averthree-pointers in a 109-101 win over the Indiana Hoosiers in Montreal. aged 24 minutes of playing time in the | photo by Richard A. Whittaker -- University of Ottawa contest, the Hoosiers' second of a fourgame Canadian tour. "They were excellent and we knew they would be. (L'Africain and Gill) are the same guys that led them in scoring against Wisconsin a year ago, when it was a 101-92 (Wisconsin win)," said Indiana head coach Tom Crean, whose team bounced back to defeat the four-time defending Canadian champion Carleton Ravens 95-85 Monday. "They're good and they shot the ball at a very high rate." Versus Vermont, L'Africain shot 5-for10 from the field for 11 points, adding five assists and four rebounds in 29 minutes. The Catamounts were the America East Conference's regular-season champion last year, going 15-1 in conference play and 23-11 overall. This is the second year in a row that Ottawa has begun the men's basketball season with victories over NCAA compettion. The Gee-Gees defeated Texas Christian University last summer. Several Burloak paddlers place top six at worlds Burloak Canoe Club's Adam van Ko250m. However, he was unable to stay everden turned in a fifth-place finish at with the Brazillian, who led the field by the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championmore than four seconds with 250m reships in Moscow. maining. The four-time Olympic medallist finGermany's Sebastian Brendel charged ished the K1 (kayak singles) 500-metre back to win in 3:44.578 as Queiroz Dos in one minute, 40.741 seconds, a secondSantos fell out of his boat as he tried and-a-half behind winner René Poulsen to shoot it across the line in attempt to of Denmark. hold off the reigning Olympic champ. The Oakville native also turned in a Oldershaw finished in 3:54.757. seventh-place finish in the K1 1,000m "Didn't have the lungs to keep up in a Saturday. The 32-year-old was third at very fast-paced race," Oldershaw tweetthe midway point of the race, slightly ed following the race. head of the Czech Republic's Josef DosThe same day, Oldershaw turned in a tal, who went on to win in 3:25.092. Van 13th-place finish in the C1 5,000m. Koeverden finished in 3:27.739. The following day he teamed up with "Did my best race today (and) it was Ben Tardioli, Jason McCoombs and Burworth 7th at the World Champs. Best loak's Aaron Rublee to finish eighth in time of the year but 2 secs+ off the best," the C1 200x4 relay. Burloak Canoe Club paddler Mark Oldershaw finished van Koeverden tweeted. Rublee and McCoombs also reached sixth in the canoe singles 1,000-metre race at the the final in the C2 200m, finishing sixth. Van Koeverden added his third topeight finish at worlds with a seventh- world championships. | Eric Riehl -- Oakville Beaver Also making the finals at worlds was -- @Halton_Photog Burloak's Brady Reardon. He teamed up place finish in the K1 5,000m. Burloak teammate Mark Oldershaw with Andrew Jessop of Halifax to finish was sixth in Saturday's C1 (canoe singles) 1,000m final. seventh in the K-2 1,000m. Brazil's Isaquias Queiroz Dos Santos set a blazing pace in Reardon and Jessop were joined by Philippe Duchesneau the early part of the race with Oldershaw second through and Burloak's Rob Clarke in the K-4 1,000m, finishing 15th. Oakville Beaver file photo Former Titan to Bucknell Former Holy Trinity high school boys' basketball player Kimbal Mackenzie (pictured above, with ball) has verbally committed to Bucknell University for 2015. The point guard is entering his senior year at John Carroll School, a Catholic prep school near Baltimore, Md. Bucknell has qualified for six NCAA tournaments, two of them in the past four years. The Bison finished fourth in the Patriot League last season with a 16-14 overall record and a 11-7 mark in conference play.