THUNDER BAY – Sports – The Lakehead University Thunderwolves men’s basketball team finished off a weekend sweep of the Waterloo Warriors on Saturday evening, winning 84-72.
Waterloo hung tough from beginning to end, refusing to give an inch to the OUA champs in their own house. Lakehead held a 40-27 advantage at halftime, and would keep pace with the Warriors’ best efforts to close the gap in the second half, thanks to some solid shooting by Ryan Thomson and a solid showing at the free throw line as a team (19-22, 86%). Waterloo made the most of its trips to the charity stripe as well, going 16-for-19, 84% (Andrew Melbourne 9-for-9).
Ryan Thomson led the ‘Wolves with 25 points (4-of-9 from three), 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Venzal Russell had 20 (2-of-3 from deep), 9 rebounds and 3 steals. Greg Carter had 8 points and 9 assists.
Waterloo’s leading scorer was Mike Wright with a game-high 26 points to go with 6 rebounds and 4 assists, and Andrew Melbourne finished with 14 points.
Coach Scott Morrison said, after the win, “While we are always happy to get two wins, I was not overly happy with our efforts this weekend. Yesterday our bench was locked in and our starters lackadaisical. Tonight I felt the opposite. This week our focus is on sharpening our team D and being ready to play each day. Waterloo has some tough young guards that are going to give people problems over the next few years including [Mike] Wright, who was very good this weekend.”
The basketball teams will head to St Catharines next weekend for a series versus Brock.
OUA Standings note: Lakehead got some help from McMaster earlier in the day, as they defeated the Laurier Golden Hawks, who had been to that point tied with Lakehead for 1st place in the OUA West, with Lakehead holding the tie breaker. With a record of 16-2, the T-Wolves have four regular season games remaining (vs Brock and Guelph).