Western opened the game by scoring their first possession and immediately fell back on defense as the Gryphons inbounded the ball. 
 

The Mustangs effectively forced Guelph to continue swinging the ball around as they attempted to create space. Western consistently had them running down the shot clock and tossing up rushed shots. 
 

Guelph was shooting pretty well under pressure in the first quarter, and the defensive pressure they were putting on the Mustangs resulted in several turnovers from Western. 
 

The Gryphons were holding the Mustangs very close. They were getting right up in their faces, causing some frustrations for Western, who were on the receiving end of some tough foul calls. They ended up in the bonus pretty quickly in the opening quarter. 
 

While the Mustangs were doing their best to crash the boards on defense, Guelph was doing well at finding the open lane to drive or cut through to the basket to put up uncontested shots. 


Western worked hard to fight through the same heavy traffic in their front court. However, as the first quarter ended, the Mustangs trailed Guelph 26-12. 
 

"We just came out real sluggish, we just came off playing three of the top five teams in the country back-to-back-to-back," said Mustangs Head Coach Brad Campbell. "It really comes down to the quality of guys on your team and their compete level and their belief" he said, "this is a high character group... this group has belief in themselves."  
 

As the second quarter was underway, the Mustangs immediately appeared stronger defensively than in the previous quarter. 

Western held Guelph to the same close pressure consistently in the remainder of the first half, causing back-to-back turnovers on the Gryphons that the Mustangs then converted points off. 

The persistent intensity from Western on both ends of the court had shaken Guelph to the point of needing to call a turnover to slow the Mustangs down. 

Halfway through the second quarter, both teams had racked up a combined 15 turnovers since the first quarter. The fouls that had once been called disproportionately against the Mustangs had balanced out, allowing for more steady play. 

Western was driving hard into the paint to put up shots, and they were doing a good job of forcing Guelph out of the key down the other end while having them run out their shot clock. 

The Mustangs were continually fast moving down the court once they inbounded the ball on a new possession, allowing them to quickly set up a play to score before the Gryphons could strip the ball off them. 

As the second quarter ended, Guelph had been able to convert more turnovers into baskets than the Mustangs, giving them the lead at the half, up 44-38. 

The second half began with the Mustangs appearing to develop greater control in the game after they outscored Guelph by almost double digits in the previous quarter. 

Western fought hard through the opening minutes of the third quarter, allowing them to take a four-point lead with just over six remaining in the third, their largest lead so far in the night. 

"It was our energy, mostly. We came out kind of slow in the first quarter, we weren't really that into it, so just getting our guys hyped up and getting the guys on the bench into it, it really got us back on track," said Western Forward Johnny Vrdoljak. "We started off slow in the first couple of games, but we want to be making progress, so just keeping on track with that and continuing to make improvements," he continued. 

The Mustangs were doing a great job of cutting through to the basket and creating space down in the key, driving the defense away from their teammates and allowing for more shots to sink. 

As the third quarter went on, both teams exchanged the lead back and forth, despite the Mustangs doing well protecting the key and forcing Guelph to make most of their shots from further out in the field. 

Unfortunately, with the Gryphons shooting at almost 47% from the 3-point line, they were putting up a significant number of points on the board, allowing them to take the lead once more heading into the final quarter, 70-67. 

Once again, the Mustangs came out of the fourth quarter firing. They outscored Guelph 14-6 with five minutes remaining in the game. They were in more control of their passing in the final 10 minutes of play, having only had one turnover in the same time frame. 

Western remained dominant throughout this quarter. Their zone defense was incredibly effective at holding Guelph out of the key and away from the lead. 

As the game clock was running down, the Mustangs were anxious to keep the lead they had earned, which had started to lead to some panicked, rushed passes and, ultimately, some turnovers. 

"We've got to work on our execution a little bit, and our defense - individually and as a team," said Mustang's starting Guard, Tyson Dunn. " [Guelph] is usually a pretty solid team, and they're tough to play when we are on the road, but we try to keep every game no different. We prepare the way we prepare... we just come out and try to compete," he said. 

However, with two minutes remaining in the game, Western had pulled ahead to be up by 12 points, their largest lead.

When the game ended, the Mustangs ended their final game of 2022 with another victory, topping the Guelph Gryphons 96-85. 

Western will return for their first game of 2023 in January, on Saturday the 7th at 4 pm against the Windsor Lancers. Fans can purchase tickets to see the Mustangs back at Alumni Hall at WesternMustangs.ca/Tickets.