Lakehead Wins Game 2 to Complete Big Weekend

The #9 ranked Lakehead Thunderwolves completed one of their biggest two-game OUA weekends in recent memory with a 77-66 victory over #7 ranked Windsor in front of a standing room crowd for the second consecutive night in the Thunderdome.

The 'Wolves got behind early as Windsor came out attacking the rim and glass earning second chances and lay-ups on the way to a 21-9 start that finished the 1st quarter at 21-13. Lakehead rallied on the boards and dug in on D in the second quarter to battle back and tie the game on a Ryan Thomson 3pt bucket on the final possession of the half. Thomson, who logged 35 minutes, was one of 4 Thunderwolves in double figure scoring led by 5th year captain Jamie Searle who notched 20 points and added 7 assists and 5 rebounds. Greg Carter led all players with 38 minutes played and struggled shooting but did contribute his usual ball pressure along with 7 assists 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Ven Russell had 16 points and 8 rebounds but more importantly recorded 0 turnovers, his best output of the season in that category.

Russell also took the lion's share of defensive responsibilities vs all-Canadian Isaac Kuon and as a team Lakehead held the usual 'Thunderwolf Killer" to 2 points on 1-14 shooting. Enrico Diloreto showed his scoring prowess all weekend leading all scorers with 22.

In the second half, Lakehead narrowly edged Windsor 25-21 but came out strong to start the 4th and built a ten point lead with under 5 minutes remaining in the game. Windsor out-rebounded Lakehead on the offensive glass by a margin of 11-5 but Lakehead did a better job establishing the paint tonight and it led to an 18-24 shooting performance at the free throw line.

"I thought that while we were not perfect with our execution tonight, as a team we provided our most sustained effort and focus over a weekend as we have all year. Credit to our guys for battling on the glass against a bigger, stronger opponent and not getting down when Windsor jumped out to an early lead."

"We would be fools to deny that this was a big weekend for Lakehead Basketball, however we would be bigger fools to think that we have won or accomplished anything other than earning ourselves an opportunitity to be in the driver's seat for the last month of the season. We have little time to enjoy tonight's effort as a tough opponent in Waterloo looms just 5 days away."

-Coach Scott Morrison