THUNDER BAY – WATERLOO – Sports – (With files from Scott Morrison) In another shoot-out in Waterloo, the Laurier Golden Hawks made tough shots down the stretch to edge the Lakehead Thunderwolves 92-89. A Venzal Russell steal of a WLU inbounds pass with 1.8 seconds led to a game tying 3pt attempt that rimmed out. Costly turnovers including a “3 in the key” call with 1:35 remaining in the game did not help the LU cause but credit to Laurier for hitting tough shots during the entire game.
Laurier was led by Kale Harrison who had 19 points and 6 rebounds and possible game MVP Conor Meschino had 16 points on 4-8 shooting, most of which came in the third quarter when LU was making a run.
Lakehead had 6 players in double figures led by Ryan Thomson who had 19 points and 11 rebounds and 0 turnovers in 36 minutes of action. Greg Carter, who was banged up in Friday’s win, toughed out 34 minutes adding 12 points 6 assists and 3 steals. Ben Johnson had 18 points on 5-10 shooting.
From a team perspective WLU won the valuable rebound battle grabbing 13 rebounds on 36 misses while LU grabbed 12 on 39 misses. Turnovers were also key as LU had 15 to WLU’s 11
Coach Morrison on the loss, “Credit to Laurier – I thought our defense was actually better tonight but guys like Coulthard and Buckley hit timely shots late in the shot clock with hands in their faces. I was disappointed with our turnovers and poor finishing in the fourth quarter – better execution might have got us over the hump. No time to reflect on this weekend with a tough opponent like McMaster coming to the Thunderdome next weekend.”
The men’s basketball team plays a weekend series versus McMaster Jan 20-21 at the Thunderdome.