London, ON – The Mustangs played host to Waterloo on Friday night at Alumni Hall, where they ultimately topped the Warriors 92-84 in a hard-fought battle.
The Mustangs sat in third place in the West with a 6-5 record coming into this game, while the Warriors are at the bottom as they remain in search for their first win of the season.
Milton native Aryan Sharma was the nights top scorer with 36 points for the Mustangs, with Matteo Zagar and Jerric Palma both following with 18. Second-year Tyson Dunn secured a triple-double with 13 points, 10 assists, and 10 rebounds on the night.
"It was solid," said Dunn on his performance. "When you play with guys like this it makes my life easier as far as moving the ball and racking up assists. We all could've played a bit better, but we played well enough to get a win."
And before on-court execution could be had, the team made sure to approach the game with the correct mindset.
"We know on any given night any team can win or lose. So it's about showing the opponent the respect they deserve and we needed a good week of practice to get ready for them," said Aryan Sharma on the team's mentality coming into the game. "We can't take them lightly. They are just as good as anybody in this league and we have to treat them as such."
"I'm not sure it was our best effort, but it was good enough to win," said head coach Brad Campbell. "Waterloo is an improving team and plays super hard, and we played well enough in stretches."
It was the visitors in black who got on the board to start, before Tyson Dunn got the 'Stangs first two points of the night.
Aryan Sharma at the foul line put Western up 4-2 for their first lead of the night, while Jerric Palma hit a three moments later in response to one by Waterloo.
A three from Sharma for a 17-8 score was enough to elicit a Warriors timeout as just over three minutes remained in the opening quarter.
The Warriors fired back and took the next nine points to tie things up before Johnny Vrdoljak and Dunn put the purple and white ahead to close out the quarter 21-19. Sharma led the quarter with 8pts and 2 rebounds while Dunn followed with 6pts and 2 rebounds.
A Palma three started off the second quarter as the team's continued to exchange points, keeping things close as neither side could pull away significantly.
With five minutes remaining in the opening half and up 29-27, Matteo Zagar hit a big three to keep the 'Stangs in the lead against a hungry opponent.
A steal by Dunn assisted an electrifying dunk from Zagar to put the purple and white 10 points up on their opponent 41-31, sending the home crowd and bench to their feet. Zagar's nine points in the quarter led the second frame, as the score read 49-36 at halftime.
The visitors closed the gap to ten at 57-47 well into the third quarter. They would go on to win 13 of the next 19 points to claw back and pull within three of the 'Stangs. The quarter finished 63-60, setting up a big final ten minutes.
"[Its about] staying the course," said Dunn. "We know that when we do what we do best no one can compete. We often beat ourselves at times and let teams back into the game. They're obviously a good team so they battled back, but we have to stay with what we do best."
The visitors started right where they left off, tying things up with a three right at the start of the fourth.
"Our guys understand there is going to be different swings in the game. One of our issues is defense this year and a lot of times we have heavy swings back and forth," said Campbell. "We are used to that and we've come back from a lot of deficits as well this season, so we have to stay even keel and make sure we are executing. It's the cliche of playing every single possession and trying to win it."
Three free throws by Sharma put the Mustangs ahead again at 70-67, which he then followed up with three three-pointers moments later as the purple and white looked to close this one out.
"Aryan bailed us out with a few three's there late in the game," said Campbell on Sharma's performance.
Zagar added a three-pointer of his own to put Western back up by nine with under five minutes to play.
Another dunk from Zagar was enough to elicit a Warriors timeout and a spirited crowd reaction, as the Mustangs looked to hold onto their 88-79 lead with 1:30 on the clock.
"We all know what we are all about," said Sharma on the team's ability to stay composed and pull out the win. "We are all competitors, and we hate losing so much so it kind of riles us up. We know we have to go out there and compete and as long as we do what we practice, the rest will sort itself out."
Despite a resilient Waterloo effort, Western managed to hold on and take home the win with a final 92-84 score.
The 'Stangs now improve to 7-5 on the season while Waterloo drops to 0-11. Western is on the road next weekend as they prepare to face Ontario Tech and Queen's on Friday and Saturday respectively, with the playoffs looming in the periphery.
"Hopefully we built some momentum here with a couple of wins and we have to keep working on some of the things we don't do well," said Campbell. "If we can keep improving, we are going to be a tough team to deal with at the end of the year and we want to be peaking by playoffs. It's a slow and steady build, we still have a young team altogether and that build is going to take some time. What you are seeing is the work in progress right now and it looks good."
"We needed everybody out there today. We're a young team but that's not an excuse," concluded Sharma. "When we go out there it's all level playing field. We do what we can in practice to prepare and then it just comes down to being able to execute down the stretch."
The Mustangs are back in action Friday, January 20
th, where they will travel to Oshawa to take on the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks. Tip-off is set for 8pm with the game being available to watch on OUA.tv
