WINNIPEG, Man. – Sports – The Lakehead Thunderwolves men’s basketball team finished the 46th Wesmen Classic in winning style, 84-67 versus the Winnipeg Wesmen to claim the tournament banner. Coach Scott Morrison stated, postgame, “Overall I was quite pleased with our play this weekend. Winnipeg is a tough team and I thought our guys rose to the challenge for the majority of the game. We met our defensive goals for 10 out of 12 quarters this weekend – something we have to build on for a tough two months of OUA action coming up.”
Both teams fought hard in the first half, with a halftime score of 32-27 for the T-Wolves. Matt Schmidt sparked a key Thunderwoves run in the third quarter, scoring a string of 11 Lakehead points to establish a lead that Winnipeg could not overcome.
Ryan Thomson would continue to hit three’s down the stretch (5-9) to put the game out of reach, and a game-high 22 points with 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Yoosrie Salhia had a solid 12 points and 12 rebounds with 5 assists. Greg Carter had 12 points and 7 assists on 6-8 shooting.
Yoosrie Salhia won the tournament MVP award, while Ryan Thomson was named to the all-star team.
Leading the Wesmen was Benny Iko with 16 points and 7 rebounds, while Steven Wesley had 15 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Travis Krahn hit some desperation threes down the stretch to finish with 14 points (4-7 from three).
The Thunderwolves out-rebounded the Wesmen 37-28, and shot a blistering 13-25 from 3-points range. The men will resume OUA league action in 5 days against the Waterloo Warriors for a double header in Waterloo.
