Big things are expected from rookie Patrick Donnelly this season. After performing strongly in the preseason and contributing to his team’s domination of Queen’s and Royal Military College (RMC) two weekends ago, Donnelly and his fellow men’s basketball Hawks took on the nation’s top ranked team, the Carleton Ravens, last Friday.
Unlike last season when Laurier took on Carleton, the Hawks were able to present a real challenge to the Ravens.
Though Laurier struggled through the first half of the game, they were able to make a strong comeback in the third and fourth quarters.
“It looked like we had a chance to win there at the end,” said veteran Kale
Harrison, who was the high-scorer of the game with 39 points. “We needed a couple stops that we just couldn’t get and we ended up losing.”
With less than five minutes left in the game, Harrison hit a three pointer that tied the game 72-all.
“I knew that was a big shot,” he said. “It felt really good to know that we had come all the way back from being down by 20. After hitting that shot there was a lot of emotion.”
Even though the Hawks ending up losing the game 88-80, head coach Peter Campbell remained positive.
“That’s the best team in the country and they’ve been number one for most of the 10 years I’ve been here,” he said. “I’m disappointed in the way we played in the first half, Carleton shot the ball really well, but we battled back from a big deficit in the second half and that’s a good sign for our team.”
The day after their loss to Carleton, the Golden Hawks redeemed themselves by defeating the Ottawa Gee Gees 91-71, with Donnelly coming in as his team’s second highest scorer with 21 points.
“He can score and he can rebound and he’s not a bad defender,” said Campbell on Donnelly’s ability. “He can do a lot of things so he’ll play a big role for us, I think.”
Donnelly credits his quick adjustment to the rapid pace of university basketball to his experience playing in New Hampshire at Proctor Academy.
Thus far, Donnelly feels that his role on the team is rebounding and playing strong defence.
“I know we’ve got some good scorers, Kale [Harrison] and Max [Allin],” said Donnelly. “So I want to put up points when I can but really that’ll come by grabbing rebounds off their misses.”
Next Friday, the Hawks challenge Laurentian in Sudbury and on Saturday they take on York in Toronto
