Nelson Men Show Spirit, But Fall at Ottawa

The Nelson Warriors' Men's Basketball team (7-7) dropped a tough 83-70 road decision to the Ottawa Spirit, extending a recent slide despite flashes of competitiveness and some strong individual play.

Nelson briefly grabbed the early edge at 4-2, but trailed for most of the opening half until Orlando Gonzales drained a jumper with 4:21 left to put the Warriors ahead 26-24, a slim advantage the team carried into the locker room. However, while the second half started as a back-and-forth scrap, Ottawa eventually caught fire, unleashing a crushing 14-0 run in just 3:19 to flip a five-point bump into a 19-point cushion, seizing control for good.

Overall, the Spirit took advantage of Nelson's ongoing struggles with ball control and rebounding, as Ottawa attempted 13 more shots (making seven more, including six additional threes) while pulling down seven more boards, including 11 offensive rebounds which fueled second- and third-chance opportunities.

The Warriors attacked the rim effectively, earning 27 trips to the charity stripe, converting 21, but struggled from deep (3-of-14), shooting just 42.6% overall. Defensively, Nelson limited Ottawa to 44.8% from the field and 33.3% (10-of-30) from three, while forcing 14 turnovers against their own 13, yet they could only match the Spirit's nine steals, an unfortunate equilibrium which ultimately provided the Warriors with no overall advantage.

Keron Bailey led all scorers, dropping 22 points off the bench on 6-14 shooting and an impressive 10-11 from the charity stripe. If he could have somehow played more than 40 minutes (playing 35 in today's game), Zoe Holman could potentially have recorded a rare quadruple-double, scoring 10 points, while grabbing 6 rebounds, dishing out 4 assists, and snagging a season-high 6 steals (with 2 blocks for good measure. The always energetic Terrin Ross consistently flirts with double-doubles, doing so again at Ottawa, finishing with 9 points and 7 rebounds, while Wyatt Mackay had 8 points and 5 boards.

Zeke Viuhkola led the Spirit with 19 points, grabbing 5 caroms and dishing out 5 assists, while Tyran Simpson finished with 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists, Carter Gittens had 13 points and 8 boards, and Max Mkpa finished with 4 points and 13 rebounds.

Up next for the Warriors are two games in Kilo, Hawaii, the first against Midland University on December 17, at 11am, followed by a matchup with Grace College the following day, also at 11am.

Do not forget to follow Nelson Athletics on X at @NelsonWarriors and Instagram at @nelsonwarriors.athletics.