Season concludes for T-Wolves
THUNDER BAY – Sports – The men’s basketball team failed to extend their season on Wednesday evening, losing their first round playoff game to Western, 68-65.
It was a great battle for fans to watch, as both teams gave it their all, Western leading 34-31 at the half. Lakehead was able to slow down Peter Scholtes, but failed to get much going on the interior themselves. Dwayne Harvey sat for 14 minutes of the first half with 2 fouls.
Jamar Coke carried the offensive load for the ‘Wolves in the first half, scoring 9 points (2 three’s and a three-point play), while Quinn Henderson hit 3 long-range bombs for 9 first half points as well.
Lakehead managed to break loose from the Mustangs’ defense in the third quarter, putting up 24 points and leading 55-50 with 10 minutes to play.
The ‘Wolves would seem to be closing the door on the visitors as the 4th quarter crept by. But Western hung around, and with the score 65-60, Lakehead would fail to capitalize on an open lay-up, and Western returned down the floor with a 3-point play to make it a 2-point game again with under 3 minutes to play. Lakehead wouldn’t score again, and Western’s Quinn Henderson gave his team a 1-point lead courtesy of a three-ball with under a minute to play.
Jamar Coke scored 15 points on the game, with 7 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocked shots. 5th year Justin Bell finishes his CIS career, and scored 6 points with 3 rebounds and an assist in his final game.
Greg Morrow was the scoring leader for the Mustangs, putting up 14 points with 3 steals.
Coach Matt Erdman commented after the game, “It’s a tough pill to swallow having a lead and letting it slip away at the very end. Considering we shot 50% from the floor, it was the 20 turnovers that killed us. I’m proud of this group and feel bad it ended like this. We have built a great foundation moving forward and regardless of how it feels right now, these guys did a great job in a very tough situation this year.”