Guelph, Ont. – SPORTS – Despite leading for the majority of the game, the Lakehead Thunderwolves men’s basketball team was unable to finish off the Guelph Gryphons, dropping a 69-66 decision on Friday evening.
The ‘Wolves jumped out to a 20-9 lead after 10 minutes, and seemed to be in control of the game despite shooting poorly from the outside. Lakehead was also playing without forward Anthony McIntosh who was forced to sit out as a precaution with a minor injury.
Lakehead held their lead until Guelph made their run late in the fourth quarter, going on a 10-0 run to take a 66-59 with 2:56 left in the game.
Jamar Coke, who tallied 10 points on the game hit a late three to narrow the lead to 69-66 with 1:07 to play, but neither team would score thereafter.
The game was tied three times, 2-2, 54-54, and 59-59 before Guelph finally took the lead for good.
In the absence of McIntosh, Bacarius Dinkins was forced to carry the load in the paint, scoring 20 points with 17 rebounds (10 offensive). Henry Tan scored 13 and Dwayne Harvey scored 7 points with 12 rebounds and 6 assists.
For Guelph, John Wallace scored 17 points off the bench.
Lakehead out-rebounded Guelph 46-30, but shot just 5-of-28 from three, compared to Guelph’s 8-of-18, including a late clutch three from Ahmed Haroon, his only 3-point attempt. Gryphon Taylor Boers was 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Coach Manny Furtado said, “Our guys battled hard tonight versus a very physical Guelph team. We had our chances tonight but just didn’t make some shots when we needed to. Having 21 turnovers and taking some bad shots like we did surely didn’t help our situation either.”
Lakehead will rematch against Guelph tomorrow evening at 8pm.
