LONDON, ON - Western returned back home to Alumni Hall to face the Brock Badgers on Saturday night, and defeated the division leading Badgers 95-91.
As the end of the regular season is looming, the Mustangs are fighting harder now more than ever to put their best effort out there over the remaining few games, which was evident tonight.
Western scored the opening points of the night thanks to a basket from George Horn, followed not long after by a 3-point shot from deep in the field coming off Aryan Sharma which had the crowd fired up.
The Badgers came into the came with a 15-04 record this season, leading their division, compared to the Mustangs, where their win percentage had them ranked at third in the OUA West.
"We treated this team just like every other team - they're nothing special, we just knew this was a game where we had to come out with energy," said Mustang Jerric Palma, "Its just effort at this point... its just about the energy and effort out the gates" he continued.
Despite pulling down almost twice the number of rebounds in the first quarter, Brock was unable to keep up with the Mustangs in scoring - as Western continued to hold a steady lead throughout the first quarter going 15-06 in the opening half of the quarter, before extending the lead out to 20-08 over the next two minutes of play.
With less than 20 seconds remaining the Mustangs went from trailing by one point, back up with an impressive possession, pulling ahead to 23-21 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter opened with the Badgers tying the score, which was quickly un-done by two successful free throw shots from Tyson Dunn, starting to bring the Mustangs back into the lead.
Over the next two minutes of play, Western pulled back up to an eight point lead with eight minutes remaining in the first half.
While the Badgers seemed to be warming up a bit more in this quarter, being more accurate with their shooting the Mustangs have been dominating both ends of the court, being an absolute force defensively and continuously sinking clutch shots, including a jumper from Johnny Vrdoljak bringing the Mustangs back up to a double-digit lead.
Western continued to hold a pretty steady 10-point lead over the next few minutes, ending the first half up 51-41.
Brock scored on the first possession of the half, and began a very physical third quarter of play. The Mustangs were fighting hard down low to cut through the Badgers defense and put up as many steady shots as possible.
Both teams were very even in terms of rebounds and turnovers, with neither team making any egregious errors in these aspects.
"[They're] one of the better teams in the country, and one issue we've had is our defensive rebounding and they are one of the best rebounding teams in the country," said Mustangs Head Coach Brad Campbell.
With five minutes remaining in the third, Western was still maintaining a steady lead, this time at seven points. Despite holding vastly different season records, neither team is running away with the win tonight, and they are all challenging each other to play a great game of basketball.
The Mustangs were out-scored by the Badgers in this third quarter, the only time this happened all game, and their once powerful lead was slashed down to three points in the final minute, and the score at the end of the third quarter was in the home team's favour once again, at 69-64.
The final quarter was by far the most intense - with the lead almost being dropped by the Mustangs several times throughout, the tension was palpable.
Several members of Western's team had put some incredible shots up, assisting in controlling the game even further. The Mustangs were absolutely on fire in this quarter after almost dropping the lead in the previous one. They refused to give the Badgers any chance at an easy overtake or victory, and a seven-point run from Tyson Dunn helped lead the Mustangs even further into dub territory.
"We know on any given night we can play like the best team in the country, now it's just about showing it," said Mustangs' leading scorer, Aryan Sharma. "Only one more week of regular season play, and we've got to be at our best come playoffs."
Throughout the final minute of the game, it appeared like the Mustangs may drop the lead if they weren't careful. But they pulled together even more than previously, and used every ounce of energy they had left to push the visiting team back away for good.
It was coming right down to the wire, but the Mustangs sealed the victory at the final buzzer, going up 95-91.
The Mustangs go back on the road for the final time this regular season as they come up against the Guelph Gryphons on Wednesday, February 15 at 8 pm in Guelph. Fans can tune in to watch live at OUA.tv.
