Photo by: Brenden Cowan

The Brock men’s basketball season is just set to begin on Nov 4., and coming off an OUA championship, they are looking to have another successful season. 11 of the 16 players on the roster are returning from the 2021-22 team, setting them up for success. 

The Badgers have played in two tournaments leading up to the regular season. The RBC Cup was hosted at Brock University this year where the Badgers had a record of 0-3 in the weekend tournament. Their losing record is a bit misleading however, all the games were close, with the biggest differential being seven point losses in two of their games. 

Jordan Tcheunte and Jesse Barnes picked up where they left off last season both having multiple double digit games in the tournament. Tcheunte averaged 7.9 points per game and 4.6 rebounds per game in the 2021-22 season, while his fellow starter Jesse Barnes averaged 7.4 points per game and 4.3 rebounds per game. 

Brock also played in an away tournament: The Calgary Cup. The tournament consisted of three games all against west coast Canadian teams where the Badgers went two games to one. Their first game was against the host, the University of Calgary. The Badgers won the game 97-82 and returning point guard Isiah Bujdoso shot six for nine from the field, also making four free throws for a 17 point game. 

Their second game was against the University of Regina and this time it was power forward Michael Matis who led the team with 16 points, six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and three steals. Matis played in the NCAA division one last season for the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Cougars. He played 33 games over two seasons averaging 2.2 points, 1.2 rebounds, and shooting 41.1%.

The final game of the Calgary cup was against University of British Columbia who was ranked 6th in the country last year just below Brock (4th). They have only matched up once since 2018 where the Badgers fell 81-73. 

Unfortunately, their fate would not change. The Badgers lost the last game of the tournament by one score, 81-79. Once again guard Jesse Barnes tallied double digits with 15 points in 20 minutes on the floor. Fifth year player Kascius Small-Martin also scored 15 points but the efforts from the two veteran players would not be enough. 

The Badgers played one final exhibition game on Oct. 14 at home against Mount Royal University where they sailed to a 81-56 victory. A team effort where 36 points came off the bench and over half of the team tallied more than 5 points. 

With returning players such as Jesse Barnes, Kascius Small-Martin and Jordan Tcheunte as well as NCAA Division 1 recruit Michael Matas the Badgers are primed for another shot at the OUA championship. 

Brock starts off the regular season on a back to back against the University of Toronto on Nov. 4 with their first home game Nov. 5 against Wilfrid Laurier University. 

Tickets for all home games can be purchased here and all games can be steamed on OUAtv