Box Score TORONTO, ON - Coming off the back of an impressive weekend, the Western Mustangs faced off against the York Lions in Toronto on Friday.
Western was looking to continue their dominant start to the season, opening up with a 4-1 record and leading the division.
Both these teams began the night fighting hard from the jump, with the Lions starting off strong holding a slight lead through the opening minutes.
While the Mustangs started to heat up, passing the lead back and forth, the game remained close the entire quarter with the largest margin being four points for the majority.
Western were quick to move down the court, as well as consistently crowding the basket to snatch as many possessions as they could.
The game remained tight throughout the first quarter, and continued to be a very close scoreline with both teams shuffling the lead between them.
Statistically, both teams were playing a very similar game, with the key difference being the number of steals the Mustangs were able to make, and capitalizing off them.
As the first quarter concluded, the Mustangs held the lead at 23-21.
With the second quarter underway, Western scored on their opening possession following a steal turned layup from Noah Otshudi.
The Mustangs had a much stronger start to this quarter than their opponent, extending their lead and holding the Lions off defensively.
York began to display a much stronger defense as the second quarter progressed, despite not putting any points on the board in the first minutes since the break.
The offensive momentum soon began to slow from both sides, however there was still high energy on the court with these evenly-matched teams fighting hard.
Western was really emphasizing their strength under the basket, pulling down more rebounds and creating space while exhibiting cohesive movement.
It was an impressive quarter for Tyson Dunn, who was managing to break the Lions' momentum at almost every opportunity, drawing big reactions from the crowd.
With one minute remaining the Lions came within one point of the Mustangs, and as the first half came to a close, both teams were once more at a level playing field with 43 points each.
Western played much better in this third quarter, despite a slow start they held the Lions back scoring 11-0 in the opening minutes.
York didn't really recover following this deficit and remained trailing the Mustangs throughout the rest of the quarter. They did, however, remain strong on defense and were powerful when it came to swarming the ball handler to create pressure.
Otshudi remained a force in this quarter, playing a key role in the Mustangs' ability to advance 30-13 in this quarter, and when the buzzer sounded Western held the lead at 73-56.
Western remained strong throughout the final quarter of the game, continuing to build on their lead and fight hard to the finish against the Lions.
The Lions began to adjust to the Mustangs style of play but it was not quite enough for them to come back for the lead, and Western will advance to next week's game with a 5-1 regular season record.
Western will play once again tomorrow night, Saturday, November 18th at 8 p.m against the McMaster Marauders in Hamilton. Fans can tune in to watch live at OUA.tv.
