LONDON, Ont. – Dominating the fourth frame by scoring all of his 19 points, including five three pointers, Andre Barber helped the Algoma Thunderbirds to a 68-64 victory over the Western Mustangs in a thrilling match on Friday night at Alumni Hall.
"At times we had no flow. We struggled to pass. We struggled to make decisions and sometimes make threes," said Western head coach
Brad Campbell. "Today we dried up in three's in the second half. Algoma did a decent job at taking that away, but we continue not to go to our game plan and we paid for it today."
The loss is Western's fourth straight and gives the Mustangs a 3-6 record, placing them third in the OUA West, two points behind Laurier and Windsor. Friday's game marks the Thunderbirds first victory of the season, keeping them in fifth place of the OUA West with a 1-9 record.
Three Mustangs led the way on the scoresheet with
Jedson Tavernier topping the team with a game-high 20 points, including five baskets from the perimeter.
Greg Morrow followed with 18 points, while
Peter Scholtes recorded 15. Morrow lead purple and white defence with a game high nine rebounds, with Tavernier following with seven boards of his own.
Barber led the Thunderbirds in scoring, recording all 19 of his points in the last ten minutes of play. Sean Clendinning followed with 14 points and three steals. The Thunderbirds key player on defence was Reng Gum, making seven defensive fouls, six of which recorded in the third quarter.
"We didn't play with confidence throughout the whole game," said Morrow. "The shots we were getting were good shots, we just didn't get enough of them, we were turning [the ball] over too much. We lost the game throughout the whole game, not just one moment."
After a few minutes of back and forth play to open the game, Scholtes sunk five points to establish an early lead. The Mustangs developed their defence early in the game, grabbing ten rebounds in the first ten minutes of play. The Thunderbirds began to catch up as the frame went on however, closing the gap to only four points with Western holding a 19-15 advantage after one.
The Thunderbirds managed to take their first lead of the game early in the second quarter thanks to a pair of baskets from Clendinning and Gum. Although the Mustangs immediately took back the lead on their next possession, the two teams continued to trade baskets as the lead switched sides four times in the frame. After what would turn out to be the closest quarter of the game, the Mustangs led 38-35 at the half.
The Mustangs defensive presence in the third frame was strong, forcing the Thunderbirds to run the shot clock while looking for opportunities. Unlike the previous quarter, the Mustangs led wire-to-wire in the third, outscoring their opponents 16-6 to take a 54-41 lead into the final 10 minutes of the contest.
Tavernier extended Western's lead to 10 a little over three minutes in, however it was then that Barber began to take over, scoring 16 points in the remaining minutes to lead the Thunderbirds on a 22-8 run to close out the game and give Algoma a 68-64 win.
"We made some adjustments in our ball screen defence and got some stops." said Campbell on the team's success in the third frame. "Then in the fourth quarter we settled for threes and stopped throwing the ball inside. We had some guys who didn't play very well and some guys that weren't ready to play. We're in a bad spot right now and we're going to have to fight out of it."
"There's only one thing we can do right now and that's to go back to the gym and work harder" said Morrow. "Our defence is our main focus. When we're energetic on defence it helps our offence."
"We got to earn it. This week we practiced real hard, our effort level was better." said Campbell. "We're extremely low on confidence right now and that comes with preparation. We got to continue to fight, it's a mental thing for us right now.
The Mustangs will look to bounce back in their next contest against the Brock Badgers on January 20. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. and can be watched live on OUA.tv.
