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Western Mustangs Sports

Mustang Player pulls up for jumper guarded by two Warriors players
Amanda Lang
88
Waterloo WATERLOO 6-5, 6-5
101
Winner Western WESTERN 8-3, 8-3
Waterloo WATERLOO
6-5, 6-5
88
Final
101
Western WESTERN
8-3, 8-3
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Waterloo WATERLOO 20 25 29 14 88
Western WESTERN 30 28 21 22 101

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Bella McLellan

Western Controls The Game for a 101-88 Victory Against Waterloo

LONDON, ON - In their second game in 24 hours, the Mustangs secured a 101-88 victory over the Waterloo Warriors, maintaining control throughout the game splitting the weekend following last night's loss to Laurier. 

The Mustangs kicked off the night with strategic play on transition, creating opportunities that gave the Mustangs a six-point lead halfway into the quarter. 

By the end of the quarter, Aryan Sharma had contributed 14 of the Mustangs' opening 22 points, equaling the total scored by the Warriors. 

This was followed by Matteo Zagar's sequence of 5 points, including a powerful dunk, which extended the overall lead to 13 points, wrapping up the opening quarter with a score of 30-20 in favor of Western.
 

The Warriors started the second quarter putting up a 9-2 point run while holding the Mustangs off. began a 5-0 run at the start of the second quarter. 

Although the start wasn't as strong as the previous quarter, the Mustangs continued to maintain a double-digit lead. 

Both teams were pressing hard defensively, off inbound plays, but Western was dominating the boards, pulling down almost twice as many defensive rebounds as the Warriors. At the end of the first half, the Mustangs stayed ahead with a solid 58-45 lead.
   

Entering the third quarter, Western's defensive pressure caused several turnovers, while screens opened up lanes for their teammates to drive to the basket.

Despite being outscored in the final minute of the third quarter, the Mustangs held a 79-74 lead, with the only period during which they were outscored by the Warriors.

""We focused a lot on just having a good bounce-back, and trying to just execute some things better, play with a little bit better energy," said Mustangs' Head Coach, Brad Campbell. "Their ball screen defense got away from us a little bit, we had a timeout at the quarter and just settled things a little bit and had our best defensive quarter in the fourth I think."
 

The Mustangs faced a challenging start to the fourth quarter, after being outscored 10-2 in the final two minutes of the previous quarter. 

"We know that to close out the defensive possession, we've got to get the defensive rebounds," said Sharma, "The most important thing when the shot goes up, everyone needs to find a body and we just need to get the board." 

The match remained fiercely physical, with the Mustangs fighting to maintain their now double-digit lead against a resilient Warriors team. 

The Mustangs broke the 100-point mark with two successful free throws from Mikyle Malabuyoc, ultimately securing the 101-88 victory.

"We realize that when we play the pace, ran up and down the court they just couldn't hang with us. We had good defensive possessions but we weren't finishing them for the full 24 seconds," said Malabuyoc.
 

Western's next game is next Friday, January 12 at 8 pm against the Toronto Varsity Blues at Alumni Hall. 

Fans can purchase tickets at WesternMustangs.ca/Tickets or watch live at OUA.tv, and Western students have free entry to all regular season home games with their OneCards!
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