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‘Stangs fly high against Ry…

November 17, 2010
By Julian Mei

Ryan Barbeau started the Mustangs men’s basketball home opener in style Friday night. He stole the ball, headed down the court and laid it into the basket for Western’s first points on home court.

Barbeau would go on to lead the Mustangs all night, scoring 19 points and going nine for nine from the free-throw line, as Western went on for an 88–57 win.

But despite the lopsided score, the Rams hung with the Mustangs for most of the first half, trailing by only three points at halftime.

The Mustangs were able to put the game away though, with a 17–5 run to start off the third quarter.

“We started being more aggressive on the offensive end, started taking better shots, and taking care of the ball better. After that our defence stepped up,” Barbeau said

While they were both relatively even in rebounding and turnovers, the Rams only shot 29 per cent from the field compared to Western’s 40 per cent.

“Their zone was great and we just didn’t shoot the ball well. That was the difference. We had a terrible night shooting the basketball,” Rams coach Roy Rana said.

Western was also able to work the ball inside the Rams’ defence effectively. The forward trio of Garrett Olexiuk, Andrew Wedemire, and Adam Jespersen combined for 39 points and 26 rebounds.

“We have a lot of depth. We can go deep into our bench and not fall off talent wise. We can run with the best of other teams’ first lines with our bench,” Wedemire said.

Also working in the Mustangs favour was the excitement that comes with a home opener. While Alumni Hall wasn’t jam packed, there was a decent–sized crowd of raucous fans on hand.

“We love being at home. We have a huge advantage here, and other teams don’t like coming here to play us,” Mustangs coach Brad Campbell said.

The Mustangs came home with high expectations, not only for the game but the season as well. Ranked seventh in the country, the Mustangs have their hopes set high.

“I think that’s where we should have been. I don’t think we should have been ranked any higher, but hopefully we can get up to number one by the end of the year,” Barbeau said.

“We want nationals, that’s our goal right now. Anything can happen at nationals. We want to come in top two in our league, and see if we can win the big prize,” Wedemire added.

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