Box Score LONDON, Ont. — Amidst the final games of their season, the Western Mustangs men’s basketball team looked to grab a win against the Laurier Golden Hawks. The Mustangs, who have developed significantly throughout the season, were full of energy and challenged Laurier on the both ends of the court. After a hard fought game, the Laurier Golden Hawks grabbed the win with the final score 92-78 in their favour.

The first quarter started out with great hustle from both teams. Peter Scholtes fought hard for loose balls and cleaned up on the inside. Elliot Dooley, who has consistently led the team throughout this season in terms of defensive performance, had another strong game. Greg Morrow was excellent in the first quarter in terms of hustling for loose balls. Laurier struggled to initiate a set offense in the beginning of the game and relied primarily on their speed to capitalize off of the fast break. The first quarter ended with the score 17-15 in favour of the Mustangs.

In the second quarter, Laurier initiated a run by finding success from beyond the arc. Western attempted to deny ball rotation, but unfortunately was not able to contain the Laurier shooters. Scholtes halted the run with a nice three-pointer off of the assist from Ryan Higgins. Western continued to apply tight pressure to the Laurier guards throughout the second quarter in an attempt to fluster their offense. The first half ended with Laurier leading 34-31.

The second half started out with a great tip from Western’s Morrow. After suffering a minor injury, though, he was forced to leave the game and was replaced by rookie Jack Daneyko. Daneyko played well on the defensive end and helped keep the team alive. Laurier began to apply tough full court pressure, which Western struggled to break, leading to a number of Western turnovers. A great three-pointer from Dooley sparked energy into the Mustangs, but unfortunately the third quarter ended with the Golden Hawks up 60-54.

In the fourth quarter, Laurier initiated a run that allowed them to build a lead as high as 21 points. Toward the end of the game, Western was unable to control the outside shooting ability of Laurier, and the home team struggled to get anything going on the offensive end. With only minutes left in the game, George Johnson stepped it up and carried his team on his back in an attempt to make a comeback, but unfortunately Laurier’s lead was too significant to recover from. The Golden Hawks took the win with the final score 92-78.

Scholtes led the Mustangs in scoring with 19 points while Maxwell Allin led the Golden Hawks with 24 points.

Despite another loss, the Mustangs battled until the final buzzer. It’s evident that even though they are young, they are a team full of spirit and fight. The Mustangs will play next on Wednesday February 13 against Windsor University. Tip off is at 8:00 p.m.