GUELPH, ON - Western faced off against the Guelph Gryphons on Wednesday night in the Mustangs final road game of the regular season, and right at the final second, Guelph put up a shot to beat Western 90-88.
It was the second time this season that these two teams have faced each other, as Western traveled to Guelph this time as they begin to bring their season to a close.
The game began with a 5-0 run for Guelph during the first three minutes of the night. Then over the following minute the Mustangs returned the favour, scoring four points straight.
Western was slow to start the quarter but around the mid-way mark of the first, they warmed up to take their first lead of the game with 5:23 minutes remaining.
The Mustangs once again dropped into their strong 2-3 zone on deface, and were doing an excellent job of crashing the boards on both ends of the court.
Throughout the first quarter Western maintained their power and were doing really well against their defenders, but the first quarter ended with the home team in the lead, up 25-15.
Neither team scored in the opening two minutes of the quarter, with the first score of the second coming from the Mustangs with eight minutes remaining.
Western were effectively deflecting shots from Guelph, and really making them work for every shot and possession, and were holding their opponents close on defense.
With four minutes remaining in the first half Western had made a comeback and brought the score within four points, and continued to hold the margin within single digits into the bottom of the quarter.
As the first half ended, the scoreboard read 46-41.
In the opening minute of the half, the Mustangs came out the gates firing on all cylinders and narrowed the score back down to a one-point deficit. Western managed to narrowly out-score their opponent in the previous quarter, and so despite trailing throughout much of the game to this point what was at one stage a 10-point deficit was cut down to three.
The Mustangs took their first lead since the opening quarter with two minutes remaining, and over the next two minutes the lead flopped back-and-forth between the teams until the quarter came to an end at 72-69 in favour of the home side.
Guelph seemed to be struggling against the Mustangs solid 2-3 zone defense, and had been throughout the night. With six minutes remaining, Guelph pushed back up to a six-point lead.
Despite having some great scoring opportunities, Western appeared to be rattled by the way that Guelph was consistently placing themselves between the Mustangs and the basket.
The Gryphons upped their lead to 10 points with 4:20 remaining, while the Mustangs hadn't scored in almost four minutes of play. However, over the next minutes Western managed to get back into it, and slashed the Guelph lead back down to two points.
The final minute of play decided the game - with a suddenly tied score, the Mustangs looked like they had built themselves a win, when a miracle, buzzer-beating shot from half-court was launched by the Gryphons, Western's hopes of a win faded as the final score read 90-88 in favour of Guelph.
Western's final game of the 2022/23 regular season will take place on Saturday, February 18th at 8 pm back at Alumni Hall in London. Fans can purchase tickets for the Senior Night game at WesternMustangs.ca/Tickets.
