REGINA – The Lakehead men’s basketball came away with a weekend sweep of the U of Regina Cougars, winning Saturday 105-79. What was a competitive game through the first moments of the third quarter (similar to Friday’s game) quickly became a blowout, thanks to three third quarter 3-pointers by Lakehead forward Ryan Thompson (Oakville, ON), who had 11 points in the quarter. His opportunity to strike from outside was of course facilitated by the swift backcourt of Venzal Russell and Ben Johnson who assisted on his timely long bombs. Thompson finished with 32 and 2 rebounds on 11-17 shooting.
Russell finished with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Yoosrie Salhia also provided scoring down low with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Guard Greg Carter was LU’s assist leader with 6.
Regina got 17 points apiece from Paul Gareau and Sterling Nostedt (5-11 from three). Brendan Hebert had a game-high 10 assists to go with 7 points.
Lakehead coach Scott Morrison found positives in the team’s performance, but as any prudent bench boss wants to see his team mature into a more complete package. ” I was happy with our 2nd and 3rd quarters tonight as we rebounded well and executed our O. However we had a poor start in the first quarter and showed some sloppy mistakes late in the game. To be successful in the OUA, a team has to go out each night and strive for perfection – hoping to reach excellence. Tonight we had too many unforced errors and lapses in our defensive game plan. That being said we shot the ball well from the outside and had strong ball movement for most of the game. The next two weeks we will focus on our individual development and bringing a consistent effort to practice each day.”
Halftime score was 49-39. Venzal Russell had 12 and Ryan Thompson 11 at halftime.
Lakehead is now 6-0 in pre-season play. They play 2 more exhibition games against NCAA Division 2 teams (Hamline & U Wisconsin – Stout), Nov 4th and 6th, before beginning regular season play in Kingston on Remembrance Day versus Queen’s.