The Golden Hawks grabbed a big early lead and then held off the hard-charging Tigers as 6'1" Simon Farine missed a wide open look to tie it as the game ended. Laurier grabbed first-half leads as large as 15 points and had 45 first-half points overall taking a 7 point lead into halftime. That lead was re-established to double digits before a late Hawk rally led by Farine, who had a game-high 34 points, brought the game back but the Moser Award candidate could not make it drop at the end, handing Dal (3-1) their first loss of the season.
Laurier started a big lineup led by 6'5" Max Allin at the point forward position, where he utilized his decision-making and offensive skills and 6'6" freshman Patrick Donnolly who continues to impress observers with his physical presence and raw strength inside plus an ability to knock down 3's. It was Donnelly (15 of his 20 points in the first half) and 5'10" Travis Berry (12 of his 16 in the first half) who helped the Hawks build their large first half lead and Allin was the finisher, making several big shots down the stretch to keep Dal at bay. Farine was a one-man offensive band for the Tigers but according to Coach John Campbell the Tigers "struggled defensively and were exposed on the front line by the physical talented Laurier forwards"
Donnelly and underrated 6'5" fourth-year forward Matt Buckley had their way up front with Tigers 6'9" Joe Schow and 6'8" Sandy Viet, winning the battle inside. 6'3" Juleous Grant had a decent game for Dal but lacked the consistency from possession to possession that he displayed in Dal's first two games at home.
The Tigers finished the tournament at 1-1 as do the Hawks, who lost Friday to Concordia. Earlier the Stingers had an 11 point win over the host Voyageurs to take the tournament title and remain undefeated vs. CIS competition at 5-0.
Dal finishes their pre-season next weekend with a pair of home games in Halifax against uOttawa Gee-Gees and the Guelph Gryphons while Laurier has their Alumni Day next weekend.
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