Ottawa, ON – The Mustangs had an absolutely massive 2nd quarter on route to an 86-72 comeback win over the University of Alberta Golden Bears on Friday afternoon in the men's quarterfinal game at the 2020 U SPORTS Final 8 Basketball Championships.
"Our guys battled back after having a very poor start," said Mustangs Head Coach Brad Campbell "I feel like we just kept fighting and kept believing, having been born and raised here in Ottawa it was great to get the win here and see a lot of familiar faces at the same time."
The 1st quarter saw the Golden Bears get out to the early lead, taking a 24-11 after the first 10 minutes.
The 2nd quarter was a completely different vice as the Mustangs went off on one of their most dominant runs of the season. It started with an Eriq Jenkins three pointer with 7:13 remaining and then the train just kept going and going and Western would add eight more three pointers in the half including four from Omar Shiddo. Western would score 21 unanswered points in the quarter and take a 46-36 lead into halftime.
"We tell our guys not to shy away from open shots so that was a big part of the turnaround in that 2nd quarter," said Eriq Jenkins "First quarter nothing was really falling for us, but in the 2nd quarter everything was an it was amazing."
Alberta would battle back in the 3rd quarter outscoring the Mustangs 21-15, but the Mustangs remained in the lead at 61-57.
Western would make an immediate impact to start the 4th quarter as he stepped up and dropped yet another three pointer, one of six in total on the night.
"Omar is a star, he's a scorer and we trust him fully to score for us and do it in clutch situations and today I think he proved that he is one of the best players in the country." said Jenkins of his teammate.
Western shot 45.9 per cent from the field and 60.7 per cent from three, compared to Alberta's 46.9 per cent shooting and 25.0 percent from beyond the arc.
"We led the OUA in threes made per game this season, obviously 17 is a lot but to do it in a national championship quarter final is obviously big," said Campbell "We've got some really good shooters and we understand that is the way we play."
With the win the Mustangs move on to the U SPORTS national semi-final on Saturday night against Carleton in a re-match of the OUA Wilson Cup final. Game time is set for 6pm from TD Place Arena in Ottawa. Fans can watch the action at https://bit.ly/2IuO1XK
