LONDON, Ont. – A back and forth affair came down to the wire, with the Laurentian Voyageurs being able to edge out the Western Mustangs by an 80-74 score on Friday afternoon at Alumni Hall.
 
"Our defence is important to us, we have to keep scores down. If we give up 80 it's probably going to be difficult for us to score in the 80s," said Mustangs head coach Brad Campbell. I think as part of that we didn't do a great job containing Gray and Armolaran in transition and keeping them off their strong hand. They hurt us attacking and getting to the hole. That's something we had been doing a good job of, but they're two very good players and we weren't able to do that today."
 
With the loss, the Mustangs will move to 5-5, and they remain in second in the OUA West. The Voyageurs' win improves their record to 7-1 on the year, and pushes them into second in the OUA East.
 
The Mustangs were led by Omar Shiddo and Eriq Jenkins, recording 19 and 14 points, respectively. Jenkins also led the Mustangs' rebounding efforts, pulling down five boards against the Voyageurs.
 
Kadre Gray continued his strong season and showed why he's the OUA's leading scorer, recording a game high 24 points. Teammates David Aromolaran and Anthony Iacoe also helped the Voyagaurs on the offensive end, scoring 17 and 16 points, respectively.
 
The first quarter began with the Voyageurs coming out firing and taking an early lead with a quick 7-0 run. However, the Mustangs tightened up their zone defence, and converted on some turnovers with a 6-0 run of their own. The contest remained tight through the end of the first frame, with Shiddo hitting a stepback jumper to cut down the Laurentian lead, to cut the Laurentian lead to 20-18 after one.
 
Shiddo continued to propel the purple and white offence forward, hitting a trio three-pointers in the second frame to help Western take their first lead of the game. This set a tone for the Mustangs, with over half of their points coming from beyond the arc on an efficient 4-6 shooting. However, with both teams matching one another on the offensive end, the Voyageurs maintained their lead, taking a 40-37 advantage into halftime.
 
The third quarter played out similar to the first two, with neither team able to pull away and build up a significant lead. Jenkins took the reins for Mustang scoring, hitting a pair of three-pointers. Late in the frame the Voyageurs were able to spur a 7-0 run, but the Mustangs fought back and continued to keep the game close. Nikola Farkic ended the quarter with a buzzer beater, and cut the Voyageur lead to 59-57.
 
After the two teams traded baskets throughout the majority of the fourth quarter, the game came down to the wire, with Laurentian taking a one-point lead into the final two minutes. However, a basket from Yengue, and a trio of free throws helped cement an 80-74 win for the Voyageurs.
 
The Mustangs will be back in action on Saturday, December 2, when they play the Nipissing Lakers on home court at Alumni Hall at 8 p.m. Fans can catch all the action live on OUA.tv and Radio Western 94.9 FM.