Lakehead Wins Opener vs #7 Laurier 88-83

The #3 ranked Lakehead Thunderwolves won a tough game over the #7 ranked Laurier Golden Hawks 88-83 tonight in Waterloo. After a hot 10-0 start to begin the game, the Thunderwolves fell victim to a classic Laurier offensive explosion as the Hawks regrouped and went on a 42 - 22 run before Ryan Thomson knocked down a couple of free throws at the end of the 2nd quarter to make it 44-39 Laurier at the half.

The second half saw the 'Wolves better contain Laurier's potent transition offense and regained the lead by 5 at the end of the third. Big three's by Greg Carter, Ben Johnson and Brendan King in the 4th helped LU get a 12 point cushion with 6 minutes left, but as predicted Laurier kept coming and made it a nail-biter down-the-stretch. Lakehead held on for a 5 point lead in game 1 of a big OUA West double-header.

For Lakehead Venzal Russell had 24 on 9-28 shooting. Greg Carter had a big game with 15 points on 7-8 shooting with 6 steals. Ryan Thomson and Brendan King shot the ball well combining for 32 points and 4-8 shooting from long range.

Laurier was led by all-Canadian Kale Harrison who had 24 on 9-18 shooting with Max Allin and Pat Donnelly adding 12 and 11 respectively.

The team stats were highlighted by Lakehead's 20 offensive boards (Laurier had 11 of their own). Laurier had the FT edge (17-23 vs 13-20) and Lakehead won the battle of 3pt % going 7-23 as a team (6-16 second half) to Laurier's 2-14 (1-7 each half).

Coach Scott Morrison on the win:

As expected this was a tough game that saw both sides make runs. Laurier is a potent offensive team that keeps coming at you. In the first half they really taught us a lesson about transition. The key to our comeback was our ability to get better looks and O boards in the second half that limited their transition opportunities. Our goal now is to get ourselves focused on tomorrow's game and get ready to compete at 100% for another forty minutes.

Game time tomorrow is 8pm at Laurier.