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‘Stangs fall flat in fourth

January 12, 2011
By Julian Mei

What a difference five minutes can make. After exchanging baskets with the McMaster Marauders throughout Saturday’s game, the Mustangs found  themselves down by 14 just five minutes into the fourth quarter.

The Marauders fourth quarter rout featured a bevy of three pointers and uncontested dunks, leaving the Mustangs frustrated. McMaster outscored the Mustangs 32-16 in the fourth, en route to a 95-80 victory. Forward Cam Michaud’s 22 points was a big part of the Marauders late surge.

“A lot of things went wrong. We just kind of imploded. We sort of let a small run get out of hand, which cost us, and we weren’t able to climb back into the game,” Mustangs forward Andrew Wedemire said.

The normally strong rebounding Mustangs were taken to school by the Marauders, who out–rebounded Western 15-4 offensively, and 40-26 in total rebounds.

“A strength of our game should be our interior play […] That part of our game was disappointing today,” Mustangs coach Brad Campbell said.

While a loss to nationally–ranked Windsor is understandable, the Mustangs were dealt a hard blow losing to McMaster at home — a team they had been expected to beat. Campbell kept his team behind closed doors for several minutes after the game.

“[Coach Campbell] tries to motivate us after the games. He tries to get us to look more at the positives than the negatives, but obviously today there weren’t as many positives. He kept us there to sort of regroup us and get us ready for Monday,” Wedemire said.

With the win, the Marauders managed to leapfrog Western in the standings, with both teams now sitting at 5-5.

“This is our first road win in conference, so it becomes hugely important. At stake was a complete flip–flop. Moving up now to that .500 record is really big,” Marauders coach Amos Connelly said. “To come here and have our guys play like that in the fourth quarter feels good.”

Originally ranked in the top 10 nationally, the Mustangs have fallen off drastically and now find themselves log–jammed in the Ontario University Athletics West division battling for a playoff spot.

Coach Campbell had some harsh words for his team afterwards, who have now shifted their focus from the long term to the more immediate future.

“I would definitely say we’re under–achieving at this point. As for a national championship, I’m not even thinking about that at this point,” Campbell said. “We’re thinking about the next time we are together and what we can do to get better.”

Perhaps some of the team’s struggles can be linked to the absence of veteran forward and team captain, Garrett Olexiuk who leads the team in rebounds per game. Olexiuk has been sidelined with a knee injury, and was clearly missed this weekend. Campbell hopes to see Olexiuk back on the floor sometime next week.

With Olexiuk’s return imminent, a full half season remaining, and the forgiving nature of the OUA playoffs, the Mustang’s season  isn’t unsalvageable. However, any more performances like this one and questions will continue to be raised about whether this team has what it takes to compete with the top teams.

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