LONDON, Ont - A combined 56 points from Jon Ravenhorst and Simon Petrov lifted the Waterloo Warriors to a 96-77 victory over the Western Mustangs on Wednesday night at Alumni Hall.
"That was our worst defensive game for the whole four quarters." said Mustangs head coach Brad Campbell. "We couldn't stop penetration, couldn't stop action, couldn't stop transition defence. We got hammered on the glass, we couldn't get defensive rebounds. We got beat up in every aspect of the game, pretty much."
With the loss the Mustangs move to 5-12 on the year, as do the Warriors who improve to 5-12 with the victory.
Four Mustangs recorded double digits in Wednesday's contest with Ian Smart leading with 19 points, followed by 14 points from Omar Shiddo. Cam Morris and Alex Otzyv were next up with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Smart also led the Mustangs efforts on the glass with eight rebounds, while also chipping in three steals.
Petrov registered a game-high 29 points, while Ravenhorst recorded 27 points on 11-15 shooting for the Warriors. Nedim Hodzic and Justin Hardy also hit double figures, scoring 18 and 13 points, respectively. Mike Pereira led defence with game high 14 rebounds, while Ravenhorst followed with eight.
The Mustangs came out of the gate ready to get above their opponents grabbing the lead right from the first basket. Western spread the offence around in the opening 10 minutes, with seven players contributing points, including six from Smart who also grabbed three rebounds. The quick start powered the home side to a 24-16 lead after the first.
After trailing by nine points after the first frame, the Warriors came out strong in the second frame with a 11-2 run to tie things up. The rest of the frame went back and forth in score with neither lead extending more than one possession, before a buzzer beater by Kristian Vande Kemp snuck the Warriors in the lead at 41-39 to end the first half.
The game continued its fast pace into the third frame with the score continue to shift between teams. In the last three minutes of play, Ravenhorst and Petrov combined for 12 points to help the Warriors pull away and take a 71-63 lead into the fourth.
Western cut the Warriors lead to four points in the first few minutes of the quarter, but that was as close as things would get, with Waterloo going on a 25-10 run to finish the frame and take a 96-77 win.
The Mustangs will now hit the road to face the Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday, February 11 at the Athletic Complex. Tip-off is at 3 p.m. and can be watched live on OUA.tv.
