On Saturday afternoon the Western Mustangs men’s basketball team hosted the Guelph Gryphons — the last place team in the Ontario University Athletics West’s Division. What appeared to be a mismatch on paper, turned into a hard fought battle with Western squeaking by 84-80.
Guelph came out aggressively and established an early lead while Western struggled.
“I thought we were very listless in the first half,” Western’s head coach Brad Campbell explained. “We were playing a desperate team that was trying to get into the playoffs and we just didn’t want it enough.”
Guelph continued their strong play throughout the first half, knocking down eight three pointers and making over 50 per cent of their shots from three-point range. Jay Mott paced the Gryphons, hitting five of his seven attempts.
“That’s been one of our strengths this year,” Guelph’s head coach Chris O’Rourke said of his teams three-point shots. “We are very young, inexperienced and hurt right now with our big men. We don’t really have a scoring threat inside, so we have to move the ball well and shoot it successfully in order for us to stay in games.”
Western shot the ball poorly in the first half, shooting 31 per cent from the field and 41 per cent from the foul line. The Mustangs weak shooting combined with Guelph’s hot three-point range resulted in Western trailing by 12 at the half.
The third quarter started the same way the first half ended — with Guelph shooting the lights out. Guelph built up a lead as large as 16 points midway through the quarter. Western needed a spark to get out of their funk, and a Jason Milliquet three to beat the buzzer turned the momentum in their favour.
The fourth quarter saw a Mustang team committed to pounding the ball inside, using their superior size and strength down low. Andy Wedemire was key to their success in the paint.
“We played with some passion [in the fourth],” Campbell said. “Andy finished with 13 rebounds in the game and he was just a stalwart on the defensive board. He just scooped everything off the glass and I think we can credit that with getting some momentum.”
With Western’s best players stepping their game up in the second half, they managed to fight their way back for an 84-80 victory.
“I can’t overstate how good and how much Andy Wedemire and Ryan Barbeau took over the game for us at the start of the fourth quarter,” Campbell said. “During that stretch when we took the lead our best players carried us.”
“In the fourth quarter we came together as a team. It was a game we couldn’t lose after losing on Wednesday,” Wedemire said, who led the team with 19 points.
“It’s all about playoffs right now.”
Western is now entering the last few crucial weeks of the regular season, facing the McMaster Marauders tomorrow at 8 p.m. at Alumni Hall.