THUNDER BAY – (With files from Scott Morrison) The Lakehead men’s basketball team squeaked out a 83-76 win over the McMaster Marauders on Friday evening. It was a tale of two halves on Friday night in the Thunderdome as the Marauders jumped out of the gate winning the first two quarters in route to a 19-12 first quarter, and 40-31 half-time lead. McMaster played great team ball with 8 different players tickling the twine and getting on the score sheet in the first half. Lakehead shot 0-8 from 3pt land in the opening segment while McMaster, the nation’s leaders in 3 point shots were a costly 4-10. Adam Johnson gave LU a spark off the bench and helped keep the score respectable with a 4-7 shooting performance including a put-back dunk.
The second half saw a much more energized Lakehead defense as the ‘Wolves did a better job getting back in transition and holding McMaster to one shot per possession. Venzal Russell and Ben Johnson caught some momentum and led LU to a 25-16 3rd quarter which tied the game going into the final ten minutes. In the 4th LU pulled ahead by 5 with under 4 minutes remaining but Victor Raso hit three buckets in a row with an LU defender in his shorts to keep his team within striking distance until the final buzzer.
Yoosrie Salhia was a force for LU as he recorded an impressive double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds (added 2 blocks and 3 assists). Greg Carter had another strong game with 10 points on 5-7 shooting adding 6 assists to only 1 turnover. Russell had 19 and 5 steals, Ben Johnson had 14 points and 6 assists. Ryan Thomson struggled shooting but contributed with 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 0 turnovers in 25 minutes.
For McMaster Cam Michaud had 14 and 7, Adam Presutti had a solid game with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists to only 2 turnovers in 31 minutes.
Coach Morrison on the win stated, “As good as we looked at times in the second half; we were very fortunate to escape with the win after a poor showing and effort in the first half. We have a great record right now but we depend on 100% effort from our players as well as executing a team orientated game plan to get wins. When one of those factors is not evident on the court – we risk getting blown out of the gym. MAC is a well coached team with some veteran players to go with talented freshmen. We’d better be at our best for a longer period of time tomorrow night.”
The two teams will rematch Saturday evening at 8 pm. All of the varsity games tomorrow are in support of the ‘Think Pink’ fundraiser for breast cancer research.
Game coverage is available via webcast on SSN Canada (www.ssncanada.ca/games) and audio feed via CILU Radio, 102.7 FM and www.luradio.ca