London, ON – The Mustangs hosted York on Saturday night in Alumni Hall where they took home a 101-89 win to break a five-game losing streak.
Coming off of a hard loss against McMaster on Wednesday, an explosive 31-point second quarter put Western in control at the half 52-40. They kept the pressure going in the third scoring another 30 points, propelling them to their eventual 101-89 victory despite pushback from York in the fourth.
"Tyson [Dunn] coming back from injury, we probably played him a little bit more than we would've liked to tonight," said head coach Brad Campbell on the win. "Obviously there was a stretch there where Aryan did Aryan things and banged out a bunch of deep three's and sort of built enough of a lead and gap to withstand a little bit of York coming back in the fourth quarter. Hopefully we can build some momentum and get better at things we'll need come playoff time."
Aryan Sharma had 28 points and 4 rebounds for Western, while Tyson Dunn followed with 19 along with 9 assists and 8 rebounds.
"It was huge," said Aryan Sharma on getting the win and breaking the streak. "We said 'we aren't going to lose another game at home.' We are sick and tired of our losing streak and we needed it to end so it felt good to get the win."
"We knew how important this game was and we treated it as such," added Jerric Palma. "It was all about having a great start and energy."
George Horn got Western's first points of the night, while a three pointer from Jerric Palma gave the 'Stangs a lead at 7-4.
"George [Horn] does a lot of the dirty work but doesn't get a lot of credit," said Campbell.
Up by one at 14-13, the Lions took the next five points to extend their lead with just over three minutes remaining in the quarter.
A three from Aryan Sharma cut the deficit, which he followed with an electric dunk with less than a minute remaining in the quarter. However, the purple and white ended the opening ten minutes down 28-21.
The 'Stangs took the opening five points of the second quarter, before Horn brought them back within one. Noah Otshudi gave Western the lead, which Tye Cotie then extended as the visitors called their first timeout with the score reading 35-32 with just over five minutes remaining in the half.
Two three's from Cole Cruz-Dumont helped put the purple and white ahead by 12 at 48-36, while Sharma and Tyson Dunn added more as Western sat ahead 52-40 at the half. Dunn led the Mustangs in scoring with 11 points at the end of the first 20 minutes.
"The past couple games our first halves have been very low energy, so we talked about having high energy from the jump as well as coming out and executing our stuff," said Sharma.
A three from Palma kick-started the second half as Western looked to build off of their second quarter momentum.
Three's from Palma and Sharma lifted the 'Stangs to a 24-point lead over the visitors in red at 74-50, as Western really began to take control of this game.
The purple and white were able to sustain the pressure, concluding the third quarter with a 82-60 lead.
The Lions weren't ready to give the win to Western that easily however, as they took 15 of the first 21 points in the fourth quarter.
"We weren't focussed enough, had some bad turnovers and then I thought we actually had some really good looks at three's and stuff from the basket. We didn't make them but we kind of shot them too quick and it played into York's hands a little bit," said Campbell.
While Sharma added points from the line, the Mustangs had trouble finding the basket in the quarter, but still sat ahead by 12 with 2 minutes remaining.
Palma and birthday-boy Matteo Zagar also added to the 'Stangs' cushion from the free throw line, as the purple and white looked to hold on to claim the win sitting at 99-87 with a minute to play.
Western held on to secure the win 101-89 to break a five-game losing skid.
"I don't think we've been in that scenario many times within the new year," said Campbell on York's late pushback. "So it was good to at least get one of those situations where we have to kind of get our act together and stop the hemorrhaging a little bit, so hopefully that helps."
"It started at practice," said Palma on the win. "After our losing streak, we have to treat every practice like a game. It showed. We had the energy today and that fire. It feels amazing."
With the win the Mustangs improve to 8-10 on the season while York drops to 3-14. Western faces a quick turnaround as they take on the Warriors for a mid-week tilt.
"Just usual preparation," said Campbell on Wednesday's game. "We'll have two days of practice, Monday, Tuesday and then the game on Wednesday. We know what our issues are which you know at times we're a little lazy on defense and need to defensive rebound a little bit better, so those are just continuing issues that we're addressing at practice and working on and hopefully we can get better at."
"Everything we did to prepare for this game we have to take the same approach against Waterloo," said Sharma. "We have to respect them as a tough opponent, because the last time we played them it was a tough game. It's all about sticking together and maintaining the energy and executing."
The Mustangs return to action on Wednesday, February 8
th at 6pm as they take on the Warriors in Waterloo. The action will be available to watch on OUA.tv
