Live Blog

The Rams hit the court ready for war, sinking the first basket. But the Golden Bears were happy to answer back, and jumped in front 6-3 after two minutes. The Alberta squad never lost the lead after that, almost doubling the Rams' points 49-25 at half-time.

Even with that half-time deficit of 24 points, Rams MVP Jahmal Jones's mother wasn't dismayed. She was in the stands waiting for a come-back. “Anything is possible … they can do it,” she said.

Adam Kahan
VP, University Advancement, said the Rams never lost heart, and played harder in the second half. But it wasn't enough to overcome number-two seeded Alberta team. 

The Rams take on the third seeded Concordia Stingers Saturday at 2:15 PM AST, for their second game of the tournament. 

The Ryersonian's own Miranda Scotland and Bradley MacInnis were behind the basket in Halifax, liveblogging the game.

For one Rams player, Friday's game was a last chance at CIS glory. “That was kind of like my last shot at the big thing,” said forward Luke Staniscia. This is the 5th year public administration student's final year with the Rams. 

“I’m confident in my guys for the next year to come back,” he added. He said he's hoping the team can ditch the “nervous butterflies” from the first game, and generate some energy for the Rams' match against the Stingers. 

“One thing we’ve got to do is bring energy,” he said. “If we come up with the energy that we did the first half of that game it’s going to be a long night tomorrow.”

Rams player Gregory Osawe, who has been out with an injury but continues to travel with and support his team, was also disappointed in Ryerson's performance against the Golden Bears. “I think we could have played harder but we just didn’t show up,” he said. “We didn’t put in any heart or effort. There was no sense of urgency.”

“I feel bad that the (fans) that drove for a loss like that,” said Staniscia. “But hopefully we can get them a couple wins tomorrow and the next day.” 

Rams forward Bjorn Michaelson said tomorrow's game will be anything but easy. "It's always hard when you lose and you have to play the next day," he said.

"We are happy we made it but we don't want to settle with that." 

With reporting from Miranda Scotland, Bradley MacInnis, and Mattew Di Pasquale.