Box Score KINGSTON, Ont. - After recovering from a tough loss against Ryerson University, the Western Men’s Basketball team travelled to Kingston, Ontario to challenge the very talented Queen’s Gaels in their final game before the holiday break. Queen’s is regarded as an offensive powerhouse and was anticipated to be a true test of the Mustang defence. In a hard fought game, the Mustangs struggled to shut down the offensive strength of the Gaels and fell short with a final score of 114-76.

The game commenced with great offensive play from Greg Morrow. Morrow found his touch from beyond the arc, moving effectively away from the ball in order to create space for back-to-back three pointers. Great offensive awareness from the Mustang guards permitted scorers Peter Scholtes and Quinn Henderson to make a number of key jump shots. The Mustang offence continued to thrive throughout the first quarter, but their defence struggled to control the Queen’s effective play execution. Queen’s sustained a lead throughout the beginning of the game, ending the first quarter with a score 26-21 in favour of the Gaels.

In the second quarter the Mustangs increased their defensive pressure, denying transition of the ball and keeping the hands of the Queen’s top scorers empty. Unfortunately, that pressure could not be sustained and the Gaels continued to run up and down the court creating opportunities off of the fast break. This fast paced style of play was not an isolated experience for Western, a relatively smaller team that relies tremendously on their speed. The Mustangs rotated successfully and tough pressure led to many missed shots on behalf of the Gaels. This created a window of opportunity for Western and they slowly inched their way forward on the scoreboard with the half ending with Western down 45-41.

Queen’s was persistent and widened the gap tremendously in the third quarter. Despite some great shots from Western the Mustangs could not shut down Queen’s leading scorers and failed to maintain the tough defensive pressure that was evident in the first half. Sukhpreet Singh from Queen’s University was excellent in the third quarter with nine points. Limiting Singh’s looks on offence while tending to the other top scorers for Queen’s was a challenge for the Mustangs. The margin increased to 22 points going into the fourth with the Mustangs down 82-60.

Western knew that they had a lot of work to do in order to recover from such a deficit created in the third quarter. Adam Vandervoort played great in the fourth quarter, scoring eight points sparking a glimmer of hope in the Mustang squad. Unfortunately, the Gaels played too well for a recovery to take place and the game ended in the Gaels favour 114-76.

Queen’s shot just over 62% from the field, a remarkable number that would be a challenge for any team to overcome. Western must regroup as the New Year approaches and work at reducing turnovers and errors. In this game alone, Western struggled to effectively maintain possession of the ball, displaying 32 turnovers against a tough defensive team.

The Mustangs now head into the holiday break with their next game coming on January 3, 2013 against the Guelph Gryphons. Western has plenty of time before then to practice hard and prepare for the second half of their season.