Saturday 7 January 2012

OUA West Today: Laurier 93, Brock 70; Mac wins

Laurier solidified their hold on first place in the OUA West along with Lakehead with a convincing victory over Brock before a large crowd at Laurier.  The explosive Hawk offense was on display once again against a pourous Badger "d" with the normal cast of characters leading the way for Laurier.  The Golden Hawks had their way offensively in the opening frame, with plenty of open looks from downtown for 6'6" Kale Harrison, 6'5" Pat Donnelly and 6'1" Will Coulthard especially and each had big halfs, knocking down 3's.  Harrison had 10 and Coulthard, who has seen his minutes at key stetches increase through the season, knocked down 2 3's as part of his 11 points.  Laurier led by 24 at the half, extended the lead to over 30 for a long stretch before garbage time at the end.

Brock tried to pound the ball inside on 6'5" Matt Buckley with 6'6" Mark Gibson and 6'6" Brian Nahimana and with Buckley holding his own and not requiring the double down.  While Gibson especially had some slick finishes, the matchup never really hurt the Hawks; in fact, it was Buckley who exploited Brock's post "d" for 15 first-half points many on fundamentally-sound baby hooks and turn arounds when not doubled, adding 7 boards.  Buckley finished with 19 points (unofficial) while Harrison led the way with over 20 for Laurier.

Brock welcomed back 6'9" Theo Davis, who offensively showed his under-rated passing ability from the high post but Davis did go to the bench with three foul mid-way through the second quarter, the second and third of which coming on the same play as he was whistled for a close foul on Buckley on a lay-in attempt but unfortunately followed the referee to the scorer's table to dispute the call and was hit with a "T".  Davis did not appear in the second half to my knowledge.

The lone bright spot for Brock was the play off the bench of Michael Williams who knocked down several 3's as part of his 20 point effort.

Laurier now gets set to host #3 Lakehead Thunderwolves next weekend for a pair of games at home in a likely battle of teams sharing top spot in the OUA West - Lakehead plays tonight at home against Western Mustangs, a team they dominated last night.

McMaster 97, Waterloo 84  The Marauders spread the minutes around and broke away late in the first half after the Warriors got it to at 42-38.  6'6" Cam Michaud led the Marauders with 22 points while freshman Joe Rocco had a career-high 20 points.  Box Score

OUA West Standings
Laurier 9-1
Western 8-1
McMaster 8-2
Brock 7-3
Windsor 6-3
Guelph 5-4
Waterloo 4-6
Western 3-6

Tonight:
Western at Lakehead
Guelph at Windsor
(both games available on SSN Canada live at 8 PM).


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