LONDON, Ont. – Second-year forward Julian Walker scored 17 points to help lead the Western men's basketball in a 92-83 loss to the Laurier Golden Hawks on Wednesday evening in Alumni Hall.

With the loss, the Mustangs drop to 12-7 on the season and remain in third in the OUA West division standings. The Golden Hawks' victory improves their record to 14-5 on the season, as they secure their position atop the OUA West standings.

Two other Mustangs scored in double figures for the purple and white in the loss, as Eriq Jenkins also tallied 17 points, while Omar Shiddo added 11 on the night. Shiddo was honoured prior to the game for scoring his 1,000th career point in his just third year.

"It feels really good to put all that hard work in and be able to have my friends and family travel to support me reaching this milestone," said Shiddo. "I wish I could've put on more of a show, but the defence was locked on me from the tip and I just never had a chance to get going. But at the end of the day, I'm not worried about my point totals. We're just focused on getting back to winning."

Laurier was led by guard Ali Sow, who scored a game-high 32 points to go along with five rebounds and three steals on the night.

"We knew Sow would be there main option tonight, so we tried to focus in on him, but he's one of the toughest guards to stay in front of in the OUA," said Walker. "I think this loss came down to us fading away from our game plan, so keeping my discipline is what I'm going to be focusing on moving forward."

Laurier came out on fire to begin the opening quarter, knocking down shots from deep while locking down on the perimeter defensively. Western soon found their offence behind the post scoring of Walker, but an inability to get consistent stops on the other end of the floor left the Mustangs trailing 34-24 heading into the second.

Laurier continued to grow their lead early in the second behind their persistent defence, holding Western's leading scorer, Omar Shiddo, scoreless for much of the first half. However, Western would finally find their footing behind their press and began disrupting the flow of Laurier's scoring, as Western went into the second half facing a slim 47-42 deficit.

Western continued to trim the Laurier lead early in the second half, securing defensive rebounds with consistency and earning easy baskets through the fast break. The Mustangs continued to rely on their perimeter defence and half-court pressure throughout the third quarter, where Nikola Farkic eventually turned the game around with a steal to give Western a four-point lead. However, a final scoring run by Sow helped push the purple and white to a 65-63 lead heading into the fourth.

Laurier continued their momentum into the fourth quarter, as Sow continued to pick apart the purple and white throughout the second half and stretch the lead to double digits just minutes into the frame. But despite the early deficit, Western continued to keep themselves in the game behind their three-point shooting. The game remained within reach until the final minute, where Laurier sealed the victory with one final defensive stand, eventually walking away with the 92-83 victory.

"It's a tough game to walk away from and look at the positive because it's disappointing to drop games when they feel so winnable," said Walker. "We have to try and leave this one behind us and move on, but we have to try and learn from it at the same time. We know we're still one of the best teams in our league, but we have to find that momentum again because you can't have off-games in the playoffs."

The Mustangs will be back in action this Saturday, February 2, where they will be travelling down to Hamilton, Ontario to take on the McMaster Marauders in what will be their first meeting of the season. The game is scheduled to tip off at 6:00 P.M. EST and fans can catch all the action live on OUA.tv.