Kingston, ON – A quick start but a slow final quarter ends the Mustangs season as they drop a 98-85 loss to the Queen's Gaels in the first round of OUA playoffs.
The Mustangs needed to get out to a quick start against the 5
th ranked Gaels and they did just that, getting a 5 point lead early on but Queens battled hard and kept things tight throughout the remainder of the quarter to only trail by two (25-23).
After Western started with some solid pace to start the game, they struggled to get points early on as Queen's opened up an 8 point lead (32-24) in the first two and half minutes of the quarter. The Gaels would finish out the half with a 10 point lead (54-44) but the Mustangs Aryan Sharma lead the game with 18 points in the opening half including going 4 for 5 from 3-point land.
Coming out of halftime the Mustangs would initially be down 13 on an early Queen's three-pointer but Western would cut the lead to 8 two and half minutes into the quarter. After the Gaels would regain their 13 point lead, the Mustangs went on a 10-0 run and cut the Queens lead to just 3 points (64-61) with 3:27 remaining. Western would outscore Queens 26-20 in the frame but trail by 4 at the end of the 3
rd.
The fourth quarter saw the tempo and physicality pick up on both sides. The Gaels opened up a 10 point lead with 5 minutes remaining in the 4
th quarter and would carry that lead through the remainder of regulation and take the 98 - 85 win and Queens moves on to the quarterfinals to take on the Brock Badgers.
Aryan Sharma finishes with a game high 26 points for the Mustangs followed by Jerric Palma and George Horn who had 13 points a piece.
The loss concludes the 2022-23 season for the Mustangs as they finished the regular season with a 10-12 as a largely young roster and will look to take the lessons of the season into 2023-24.
Stay tuned to the rest of the Mustangs teams in the OUA playoffs and other competitions at WesternMustangs.ca.
