Saskatoon – Sports – The Lakehead Thunderwolves men’s basketball team were handed their first loss of the pre-season, 80-71 at the hands of the U Saskatchewan Huskies. Halftime score was 38-36 Saskatchewan. Lakehead came out flat in the third and suffered a 20-12 disadvantage in the Q. In the fourth Lakehead could not make up the ground they had conceded earlier in the game, and never would gain the lead on the host team.
Lakehead’s shooting was not up to it’s usual prowess, hitting only 1 of its 13 3-point attempts in the second half, despite hitting 6 (of 13) in the first 20 minutes. Leading the Wolves was Matt Schmidt with 15 points (6-8 shooting) and Greg Carter with 14 points (5-14 shooting) and a team-high 7 rebounds. Ryan Thomson had 7 points and 7 rebounds. No other T-Wolves hit double figures.
The Huskies had 5 players score in double digits, led by Ben Baker and Stephon Lamar with 18 points each (Lamar 9 rebounds). Pat Burns had 13 while Matt Forbes kicked in 16. Evan Ostertag had 10 points in the win.
As a team Saskatchewan shot 50% form the floor, compared to Lakehead’s 38%. Lakehead was out-rebounded 37-33.
Lakehead coach Scott Morrison commented, “Saskatchewan came out and jumped all over us to start the game. We discussed in prep that they would be hungry after a tough loss last night [to Concordia]. Some of our players did not take that to heart and were not ready to play tonight. By the time we stopped the bleeding in the first quarter we were down double digits and just could not get the key stops that we needed to get over the hump. I am truly disappointed with the way we started the game and also in myself for sticking with some guys too long tonight that did not come to the gym with their ‘A’ game. With our trip not yet halfway done we will soon learn what our guys are made of.”
The men’s team will continue on their western bound road trip and will play U Victoria on their home court on Wednesday, October 24.
