OSHAWA, ON - The Western Mustangs lost a hard fought battle against the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks on Friday night by 13 points, ending their three-game win streak. 

Throughout the night, the Ridgebacks were holding a strong defense against the Mustangs, making it difficult for them to build momentum and effectively put points on the board.

Ontario Tech began the match with a 7-0 scoring run, that the Mustangs had a rough start combating, before slowly beginning to catch up throughout the quarter. 

Both teams began holding a solid 2-3 zone on defense, until Ontario Tech switched for a more high-intensity man-on-man strategy. This caused the Mustangs to struggle even more attempting to gain the lead, as they were being forced to keep the ball moving and often rush shots to avoid a shot-clock violation. 

Western called a time-out when the Ridgebacks gained a 10-point lead, and as a result, the Mustangs came back on the court much more in control of the game, appearing more locked-in defensively. 

Unfortunately, Western appeared to be having a tough time getting their shots to fall throughout the opening quarter, leading to the first 10 minutes of play ending with Ontario Tech in the lead, 19-10. 

Western were quick to fall back on defense throughout the second quarter, and seemed to be playing their game, and appeared to be much more dominant over the Ridgebacks. 

Only three minutes into the quarter, the Mustangs had managed to bring the margin to zero, slicing Ontario Tech's lead and  tying the match at 20 points each. 

Western was communicating much better on the court, and forced more turnovers against Ontario Tech by running down the clock and pressuring them to make rushed shots. 

Despite trailing throughout the entire first quarter, the Mustangs were scoring much better in this next quarter, even managing to score more points than their opponent in the second 10-minutes of play. 

The Ridgebacks were effectively stopping Aryan Sharma from putting up his 24-point average throughout the night, but the rest of the Mustangs stepped up to help bridge this gap. With Noah Otshudi and Cole Cruz-Dumont notably leading their team in scoring throughout the quarter. 

Despite slashing the Ontario Tech lead down toward the start of the quarter, the Mustangs found themselves trailing once again by less than 10 points in the final minute of the first half, and when the second half began, the Ridgebacks were up 38-30. 

There were really high levels of contact from Ontario Tech throughout the third quarter, as they were fighting to hold on to their lead while the Mustangs continued to swarm the open players, and crash the boards, allowing them to score the bulk of their points in the paint tonight. 

Western was struggling to pull themselves back into the lead, and were avoiding making three-point shot attempts, as they had only taken six so far in the night, and missed each of them with only a few minutes remaining in the quarter. 

When the game entered its final quarter, the Mustangs were down 66-46. The team was having trouble sinking shots, but were still very much in it. They didn't give up, and were constantly fighting down low for every possession. 

The Ridgebacks managed to pull ahead to a 22 point lead with five minutes remaining, their largest lead of the night. 

While the Mustangs were fighting hard for every rebound, and continued pressing hard on defense throughout the entire game, slowly shrinking the lead, and at one point they went on a 6-0 run. 

Ontario Tech remained strong right through to the final seconds, and when the fourth quarter was done the Mustangs hadn't been able to make a comeback, and they fell to the Ridgebacks 82-65.

The next game for this Mustangs team is tomorrow night, Saturday January 21 at 8 pm against the Queens Gaels in Kingston. Fans can tune in to watch the game live at OUA.tv.