The Brandon University Bobcats men’s basketball team didn’t have much trouble scoring in their pre-season game at the new Healthy Living Centre on Saturday night.
Their defensive play, however, was another matter as the Bobcats struggled to stifle the Dakota College at Bottineau Lumberjacks in Brandon’s 79-74 pre-season victory. The Lumberjacks found a lot of success in transition to cut into the lead the Bobcats held during the entire game, and that’s something the team wants to see tighten up before the regular season starts in two weeks.
“We need a lot of work,” said Kenonte Ramsey, a new Bobcats recruit from California.
“We have to come in and work on our transition defence. Our defence was the problem tonight. We could care less about our offence. We need to work on our defence because our defence is key to keep us going in the future.”
While there’s still work to do on defence, BU head coach Gil Cheung liked what he saw from Ramsey.
The 6-foot-1 guard came to Brandon three weeks ago after being delayed by student visa paperwork. Cheung said that Ramsey is starting to get his legs under him and Ramsey said he is feeling more comfortable on the court.
“I’m starting to realize where I fit in and who does what, so it’s all coming together slowly,” he said.
Statistics from the game were not available from source.
Cheung wasn’t concerned that the score was close in both games against the American junior college. Instead, he wanted to use the weekend as a chance to help build the team’s identity. He’ll use the same philosophy next weekend when the Bobcats travel to Winnipeg to face the Manitoba Bisons and Winnipeg Wesmen in two more pre-season contests.
“At this point, you’re not trying to compare yourself with Winnipeg, Manitoba, Regina, UBC or whoever it is,” he said.
“We’re still trying to find our own identity and who we are as a team. I think the biggest thing is that the (video) tape gets broken down and the guys get to see where the breakdowns are coming from and what level needs to be performed every single night to compete in this conference.”
» cjaster@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition October 22, 2012
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