Box Score LONDON, Ont. - Fourth-year shooting guard Eriq Jenkins scored 18 points and collected a game-high five steals to help lead the Western men's basketball team to a 78-61 victory over the York Lions on Saturday evening in Alumni Hall.

With the win, the Mustangs improve to 3-1 on the season and sit in second place in the OUA West division standings. The Lions' loss drops them to a 1-2 record early in the year, as they remain in seventh place in the OUA East division.

"It's really great to get a team win, especially with so many of the young guys playing well," said Jenkins. "They're continuing to grow and learn on both sides of the ball and everyone's starting to play big minutes for us."

Two other Mustangs scored in double figures for the purple and white, as Omar Shiddo poured in 21 points while Julian Walker added 14 points on an efficient 6/8 shooting from the field.

Chevon Brown led the way for the Lions in the loss, matching Shiddo's 21 points and adding three steals on the defensive end.

"Going into the season, we had our nucleus of returning guys that always have a big role on the team and know exactly how we want to play, but we needed some depth, so with the rookies coming in and Julian stepping up for us, it allows us to spread the minutes around a lot," said Mustangs head coach Brad Marshall. "We're going to need our all guys moving forward, so the more we can get contributions from our young players, the tougher we're going to be."

The Mustangs opened the first quarter on fire, beginning the frame on a 15-0 run and forcing the Lions into a string of turnovers early. Western's defensive intensity, spearheaded by Jenkins, kept York from creating any quality shots in the half court setting, closing out on shooters and forcing contested jumpers. The constant energy left
Western with a dominant 25-6 lead heading into the second quarter.

The second quarter was much of the same, as the Mustangs proved their depth and found production all the way down their roster. The three-point shot quickly became Western's primary weapon midway through the quarter, propelling them on a scoring run to break open a 42-18 lead heading into halftime.

But despite the slow start for the Lions, York came out of the gate firing in the second half, getting the purple and white into foul trouble early and finding their rhythm from beyond the arc to cut into the Western lead. York continued their run into the end of the frame, capping it off with an enormous dunk to beat the buzzer as Western went into the fourth with a 61-48 advantage.

The defensive discipline which carried the Mustangs in the first half seemed to fade at the beginning of the fourth, as foul trouble began to amount in easy free throw opportunities for the Lions. However, Walker quickly became the difference maker in the fourth, securing rebounds on both ends of the floor and ending the scoring drought to get Western back on track. The final scoring run proved enough to put the game away as the Mustangs cruised to the 78-61 victory.

"Obviously, we're going to be going up against a very good Carleton team next, so we'll just have to put this weekend behind us and look ahead towards a tough opponent," said Campbell. "We're going to have to be very good and near-perfect to have a chance to win on Friday night. They're just so disciplined and they have so much talent. We're going to have to defend at a high level for the entire game and make shots consistently, but tonight was a good showing from us."

"Our defensive focus has to be at the front of our game plan heading into next week," said Jenkins. "When we get our opportunities to push the pace and score on the break, we're going to have to take advantage of that like we did tonight because we're not going to have a lot of open chances against a team like Carleton."

The Mustangs will be back in action this Friday, November 9, where they will take on the OUA powerhouse Carleton Ravens in their first meeting of the season. The game is scheduled to tip off at 8:00 P.M. EST and fans can catch all the action live on OUA.tv.