GUELPH, Ont. – A game-high 20 points from
Marko Kovac helped the Western Mustangs to a 97-56 win over the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday afternoon at the Gryphons Athletic Centre.
With the win the Mustangs finish the regular season with a 15-9 record and in second place in the OUA West standings, while Guelph moves to 6-18 on the year.
Kovac led the Mustangs in both points and on the glass, grabbing eight rebounds in the win. Three other Western players hit double digits on Saturday, with
Henry Tan scoring 16 points, followed by 15 from
Christopher Clegg and 14 from
Jedson Tavernier.
Jonathan Wallace led the Gryphons attack with 12 points on Saturday, while Tommy Yanchus added 11 points and Daniel Dooley scored 10. Kieran Naus led the Gryphons rebounding efforts with eight boards.
It was a low scoring start to the contest, with Western holding a slight 9-7 advantage midway through the opening frame. After Guelph tied things up at 14-14 on a three pointer from Wallace, the Mustangs took control, closing out the quarter on a 13-3 run to take a 27-17 lead after 10 minutes.
Although Western ended the first quarter on a sustained scoring run, things settled down in the second frame with neither team being able to build up a sizable advantage. Both sides traded baskets throughout the quarter, with the Gryphons capping things off with a half-court buzzer beater from Taylor Boers to cut Western's lead to 42-35 at halftime.
The Mustangs returned to the court with a vengeance, dominating the opening of the third quarter and going on a 20-5 run over the first five minutes of the frame. Although Western's rapid scoring pace slowed down a bit for the remainder of the period, the purple and white defence continued to cause problems for the Gryphons, giving up only seven points over the final five minutes to give Western a 73-47 lead through three quarters.
Western continued to increase their lead throughout the fourth, with the Mustangs taking a 97-56 win.
Next up for the purple and white is an OUA Quarter-final matchup on Saturday, February 24, at 2 p.m., against an as yet-to-be-determined opponent. Fans can catch all the action live at Alumni Hall and on OUA.tv
