TORONTO – The Lakehead University men’s basketball team could not redeem themselves against the Ryerson Rams on Friday evening, losing 69-64. The first scoring play for Lakehead was a three pointer by Yoosrie Salhia, which is not out-of-the question, but perhaps not the way one might expect the ‘Wolves to begin. Lakehead built off of it early getting out to a 9-2 lead at 4:40 of the first quarter, which was reversed to a Ryerson 10-9 lead by 2:35 of the quarter. They managed to salvage the cause for a 13-12 lead after one.
The game’s pace would not get any faster from there, especially for the T-Wolves, who were out-scored 23-12 in the second quarter. Half time score was 35-25 for the Rams. After mounting a 17-12 rally in the 3rd quarter, both teams were dug in deep, with neither giving an inch in the key or anywhere on the court.
Lakehead would battle all the way back, led by Yoosrie Salhia under the hoop, who finished with 11 rebounds (4 offensive) and a game-high 21 points. LU went ahead 53-50 on a Brendan King 3-pointer. From there it was a dog fight all the way down the stretch, with the Rams coming up with a few key offensive rebounds when it mattered most.
The T-Wolves were out-rebounded 36-34 on the game.
Brendan King finished with 12 points. Matthew Schmidt had 10.
For the Rams, Aaron Best had 19 points, Jahmal Jones 17 and Bjorn Michaelson 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Lakehead coach Scott Morrison commented on the game saying, “We didn’t do a great job sticking to our defensive game plan and following the rules we have laid out for ourselves, especially in the second quarter. They came up with a couple offensive boards when we missed our assignments late in the game. Credit to coach Rana and his team for getting a tough victory. We’ve got a tough turnaround to play Toronto tomorrow night, and we’ll have to execute defensively tomorrow what we didn’t tonight.”
The men’s team play U of Toronto tomorrow evening at 8 pm. Webcast will be available via SSN Canada.
