LONDON, ON - Unfortunately the Mustangs weren't able to beat Windsor in the season opening game on Tuesday night, falling to the Lancers in a close matchup, 92-84.
The Western Mustangs and Windsor Lancers teams had similar records last season, which indicated that this game would be pretty evenly matched from the jump.
The Mustangs gained possession at the jump off the loose ball and opened the scoring on their first play with a layup from Tyson Dunn.
On the next play, Isaiah Pemberton also scored for the Mustangs, followed by a successful shot off the rebound on a consecutive play by George Horn, bringing the Mustangs up 6-0 in the first minute and a half of play.
There was some back-and-forth in scoring after this, with both Windsor and Western having a couple of successful shots between them, resulting in a three-point shot from the Lancers tying up the game with less than six minutes remaining in the first quarter and a score of 13-13.
After this, the Mustangs began to drop back slowly. Over the next minute and a half, Western had fallen five points behind with only four minutes remaining in the quarter.
Over the next few minutes, the play was rapid, with the Lancers moving swiftly on the transition. An impressive steal led to an open layup from Matteo Zagar, bringing the score within one point. The Lancers held the lead 24-23 heading into the second quarter.Despite opening the second quarter with the Mustangs holding possession, it was quickly stolen by Windsor.
The Mustangs held tight pressure on the Lancers throughout this quarter on defense. They were also doing an excellent job of swinging the ball around on offense to create space and an opportunity for an open shot.
However, it just seemed that there were problems with the Mustangs being unable to crash the boards as effectively as the Lancers on both ends of the court.
The Lancers went on a slight run, causing Western to call a time-out to disrupt the game flow. The Mustangs were very effective at setting up scoring opportunities and plays off of time-outs, which was evident over this quarter.
Frustrations were high in this period of play, with the Mustangs racking up their fifth team foul of the quarter just three minutes in, giving the Lancers bonus free throw attempts.
At this point of the game, though, Western turned it around on their rebounds, being much more effective at snatching up missed shots and capitalizing on these opportunities.
In two back-to-back plays, Pemberton collected a Lancer rebound before passing the ball out to Aryan Sharma for a quick scoring play, bringing the Mustangs up to a five-point lead, 39-34.
Windsor was very effective on defense, almost seamlessly switching players when needed, making it incredibly difficult for the Mustangs to find the open man for a clean shot at the net.
Western began holding much tighter on defense, forcing Windsor to take more shots from further out while running down the shot clock.
The Mustangs were also very effective at scoring off turnovers this quarter, having scored 11 points this way, as compared to the Lancers, only scoring four points off turnovers, with one minute remaining in the first half.
After going on an unanswered 5-0 scoring run, the Mustangs ended the first half of play up by eight points, 53-45.
The beginning of the third quarter was decisive for the Mustangs. They made several great shots while holding the Lancers back from scoring in the same ways they had earlier in the game. This led to Western pulling ahead with an 11-point lead, their largest of the game for them so far.
The Lancers started to seem panicked, and they began making some sloppy mistakes and rushed passes.
Not long after the Mustangs had pulled ahead, Windsor went on a quick eight-point run, slashing Western's lead down to three points at 59-56.
The Mustangs continued to do an excellent job of setting up plays off time-outs and putting points on the board. Still, there were several instances in the remainder of this quarter where Western was putting up shots with no one in the key to rebound, leaving the Lancers with more chances for turnovers.
The lead was then cut down to a one-point differential. With both teams in the bonus on fouls, this quarter was determined by foul shots, with both teams getting frustrated, resulting in numerous fouls called.
The Mustangs were doing a good job of drawing offensive fouls on Windsor, and as the third quarter came to a close, the Mustangs were up by a slim margin, 67-66.
Entering the final ten minutes of play, the Lancers had outscored the Mustangs in two of the previous three quarters.
The Mustangs were holding Windsor much closer on defense this quarter, which placed more pressure on the Lancers to work harder to get through and find the open shot.
Windsor, however, was very successful at collecting their rebounds and putting the shots back up, which made all the difference to the scoreboard.
With less than five minutes remaining, the Lancers pulled ahead in scoring and rebounding, up 78-84 in points and out-rebounding the Mustangs 43 to 27.
The Lancers had been doing a good job of forcing Western out of the key, resulting in more rushed attempts at greater distances to beat the shot clock.
Western was doing a good job of drawing the Lancers players away to create open scoring opportunities toward the end of the game, and the Mustangs fought hard right to the end.
Unfortunately, Western lost 92-84 in the first game of the 2022/23 season, with Sharma leading the team in scoring with 25 points.
The Mustangs' next game will be against the Laurier Golden Hawks in Waterloo at 8 pm on Saturday. Fans can watch live at OUA.tv.
