Toronto, Ont. – SPORTS – Lakehead’s bench came up big, hitting seven three’s to help the Thunderwolves past the York Lions, 78-63.
The York Lions’ defense had the ‘Wolves in a vice for the first 4 minutes of the game, as they opened up with a 6-0 run. Bacarius Dinkins was more or less smothered by the Lions’ zone defense and Lakehead’s shooters couldn’t convert on early open looks.
That was until coach Manny Furtado looked to his reserves, with rookies Kache Kopec, Brandon Persad and Darnell Curtin hitting three’s to counter York’s initial surge, and draw Lakehead to within striking distance, 13-16 after 10 minutes. Persad finished 3-of-7 from three for 9 points with 4 rebounds.
The ‘Wolves put up 23 points in the second quarter to take a 36-34 lead into the locker room.
The Lions stuck with their defensive game plan in the second half, clogging the lane and forcing Lakehead to make hay from the outside. While it wasn’t a bumper crop (32%), but the ‘Wolves did hit 11 of 34 three-pointers.
Lakehead also played solid positional basketball while extending their lead in the second half with the help of numerous free throws. York was in the penalty with just over three minutes gone in the fourth quarter. The ‘Wolves went 23-for-27 from the charity stripe on the game, while York got to the line 10 times, hitting 7 of them.
Alex Robichaud had a team-high 18 points and 10 rebounds, Henry Tan added 16 points, 5 assists, and Bacarius Dinkins had 14 points with 10 rebounds.
Gene Spagnuolo came off the bench to score 19 points for the Lions.
“Our guys battled hard tonight,” said coach Manny Furtado. “We made some adjustments in the second half and responded with good execution.”
Lakehead travels to Kingston to play the Queen’s Gaels tomorrow at 8pm.
Webcast will be available via OUA TV.
