LONDON, ON
Saturday evening, the Mustangs looked to make it double-or-nothing at home against the Lakehead Thunderwolves.
Lakehead came out firing against the Mustangs, getting out to a 12-2 lead within the first 3 minutes of the first quarter. Western continued to chip away at the lead throughout the quarter, trailing by 3 heading into the 2nd quarter, 25-18.
In the 2nd quarter, the Thunderwolves fought back and built their lead to as much as 13 points. Western's defense started to apply the clamps to the Lakehead offense, despite them shooting 7-11 from 3PT range. Milan John led the charge for the Mustangs, going into the break with 14 points, 4 steals and 3 rebounds. The fastbreak game helped the Mustangs fight back, going into the break down 5 points, 53-48.
Lakehead continued to fight hard in the 3rd quarter, pushing the Mustangs out every time they tried to get close. Lakehead held on to win 104-89.
Lakehead shot 43% from the 3PT line, and out-rebounded the Mustangs 33-27. "Defensively we need to do a better job. I don't think we handled Lakeheads pace well. They played at a very high pace and I think we struggled with that. We obviously didn't defend the three-point line well today", said Head Coach Brad Campbell.
Veteran guard Noah Otshudi emphasized the lessons this young team can learn from this. "We just need to learn from this. We're a young team trying to find our stride in the league. Everyday we're gonna have ups and downs, but we're not going to sulk too much about it. There's some stuff we need to fix for Wednesday and we'll get back at it", said Otshudi.
The Mustangs are back in action on Wednesday, November 13th at 8pm EST against the TMU Bold. Tune in live on OUA.tv.
KEY STATS
G | Milan John - 26 PTS (10-25 FG), 5 REBS, 5 ASTS
F | Matteo Zagar - 22 PTS (10-13 FG), 7 REBS
G | Mikyle Malabuyoc - 14 PTS, 9 ASTS
G | Noah Otshudi - 8 PTS, 5 ASTS, 3 REBS
