It might go down as the most insignificant basket of his TMU career, but his layup 6:22 into the OUA semifinal says everything you need to know about Elijah Roye. 

His character, motivation and personality all became summarized as the fourth-year opened the scoring for the Bold and cut their first-quarter deficit to 17 points against the Ottawa Gee-Gees. 

It was TMU's slowest start to a match all season, trailing 27-9 in the first quarter alone and struggling to stop their memorable season from bleeding out in the nation's capital. 

Nobody with blue and gold on their chest had an answer to keeping up with the Gee-Gees that night. Not even Aaron Rhooms, the league's Player of The Year and TMU's leader in times of distress, could muster anything more than five points in the opening frame. 

Roye sat on the Ottawa sidelines demoralized but stirring with answers as his team descended further behind the eight ball. By the time head coach of the Bold David DeAveiro subbed him in, the fourth-year forward had already begun charging up the court to eventually snap TMU's longest shutout of the season just 27 seconds into his shift. 

"Hey, if no one's hitting the shot, I'll hit the first one," recalled Roye from what, barring a return for a fifth season, might have been the final game of his TMU career. 

"Sitting there sad is not going to change anything," he added. "That's always one thing I always say just in life… Instead of sitting and moping about it, let's try and change it, work on something or a plan to get out of this rut."

Though insignificant in TMU's eventual 89-56 defeat, Roye's layup jolted the Bold back to life and helped the team finish the remainder of the quarter with an answer to Ottawa's nine points. 

Without saying a word, Roye was able to steer the Bold back on course and keep their spirits alive during the lowest point of their campaign. 

It's this quiet leadership, a form of showing and not telling that has come to define Roye during his four years at TMU and shines the brightest in moments where words of encouragement and perseverance aren't as ballistic. 

It's what's followed Roye around ever since he suited up for the Wildcats during his time at the Carmel School, a Christian prep school in Ruther Glen, Virginia, prior to arriving at TMU. 

The forward spent two years in the program before being the first player DeAveiro ever recruited to TMU, Ryerson at the time, capping off his tenure with a defensive Player of the Year award and Most Improved Player of the Year award while reaching the state championship in his final season. 

Roye made the jump south of the border just after graduation, with high schoolers in his hometown of Montreal graduate after the 11th grade instead of the traditional 12th year. 

With playing collegiate basketball still a vivid dream of his, Roye swapped skyscrapers and Canadian cuisine for a town populated by just over 17,000 people and covered with trees and rural southern hospitality. 

Roye traveled around the southern United States regularly for games, playing in basketball hotbeds like South Carolina and Georgia alongside teammates that possessed a drive unlike any he'd ever seen before. 

"They live and die by sports out there," commented Roye on the culture he built himself around as a Wildcat. "Being very competitive, very skill-based… I think that definitely pushed me and helped my work ethic grow from there."

Among becoming increasingly independent, the experience proved most vital to polishing Roye's leadership skills. Being looked up to on the squad was something he never imagined to be associated with when he arrived at the Carmel School, with his introverted personality always stepping in the way of becoming a traditional vocal leader on the court. 

"I wanted to just go on the court and do what I had to do," recalled Roye. "But then, being around people that were hungry, people that were in those positions and seeing that I have the skills… You're going to be looked at as a leader in a way," he added. 

It was those skills and leadership qualities that expedited a successful career with the Wildcats and more crucially, landed the forward a spot on the Bold in the summer of 2020. 

Yet five years and a pandemic-plagued rookie season later, leadership has taken on a new form and meaning for Roye since committing to the blue and gold. Being a leader has become much more than a six-letter word for the veteran and is a component of his game that he's grown to compliment his personality with to help his peers when necessary. 

"I've always been a quiet person," said Roye. "I learned from vocal people that sometimes you don't have to be vocal to be a leader… I think I took what I could from people I looked up to and kind of molded it to my personality," he added.

Professional NBA icons like Lebron James and Steph Curry are just two players that inspired Roye's leadership qualities on the court, with a fascination fixed between himself and the duo's ability to be a loud presence while also paving a path for others to follow with their play. 

"People think vocal is a word, but you can be vocal by the way you play and you don't have to even say a single word," mentioned Roye. 

"Sometimes the leaders on the best teams are the guys that average two or four points, but they'll do everything their team needs… doing the things that no one wants to do and doing things to the best of their ability." 

And Roye is really just one of those guys, setting a career-high in all offensive categories in 2024-25 despite averaging five points a game and spending the bulk of his time on the sidelines. 

His layup in the OUA semifinal is a testament to that style of leadership, with his vocal side shining behind the scenes in bigger ways such as informing newcomers to the team about the academic resources available to them to help stay sharp off the court. 

Roye's fourth season with the Bold has admittedly been the most eye opening for him and his leadership qualities, playing a key role in the lives of his teammates both new and established on and off the court. 

"This year is really when I kind of felt that my leadership role came in," said Roye. "Whether it's the first years relying on me with school or basketball or other guys new to the program… I really saw this year some guys are relying on me for help," he added. 

In an industry dominated by stats, egos and overhauled by superstars given the leadership title for their play, Roye has shown that there still remains a place for the game's quiet leaders that don't share the same spotlight. 

Commanding the floor comes in many forms but none as personal as the way Roye has throughout his TMU tenure. In the span of a single play, the basketball world saw what type of player, person and leader Roye was and his ability to let it show when his team needed it most.

"To be a leader, the best way is to be yourself," said Roye. "Don't be something you're not. I think that's something I tried to do and I wasn't going to be something I wasn't."

"Everybody leads in their own way and you being authentically yourself is the best way to lead."