Winnipeg – LU Sports – The men’s basketball team finished their tenure at the 2014 Wesmen Classic with a 83-77 win over the Regina Cougars. With the victory on Tuesday afternoon the Thunderwolves win the consolation final, going 2-1 over the past three days.
The Cougars ran out to an early 12-4 lead, but Lakehead would respond quickly, with the shooting talents of Ryan Doornick being put on display for the second game in a row. Doornick connected from land beyond, as did Alex Robichaud to rally the ‘Wolves to take a 22-20 lead after 10 minutes.
Doornick would continue to light it up, hitting consecutive three’s to stretch Lakehead’s lead to 42-30 late in the second quarter.
Lakehead led 44-36 at halftime, and 65-51 after 3 quarters.
The Cougars would refuse to lie down in the fourth, rallying back to trim Lakehead’s lead to three points down the stretch.
On a critical possession in the final minute, two consecutive offensive rebounds for Lakehead put them in the driver’s seat, leading 78-75. The ‘Wolves would eventually convert on the possession to push the game out of the Cougars’ grasp.
After setting a career high (24 pts) on Monday, Ryan Doornick raised the bar once more, this time scoring 30 points (7/11 3pt) with 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Mor Menashe finished with 20 points (10/12 FT), and Alex Robichaud hit four 3’s to finish with 16 points and 7 rebounds.
For the Cougars, forward Zach Mihalicz scored 25 points with 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
Coach Manny Furtado said, “This weekend was a great test for our guys to be back on the court after exams. We faced some tough competition that will hopefully prepare us for the second half of our season. We’ll sit down as a team, watch some tape and correct what needs to be fixed.”
The men’s team will resume play on January 9-10 in Thunder Bay as they play a critical central division double header against the Brock Badgers.
