Box Score GUELPH, ON - The Western Mustangs faced the Guelph Gryphons in Guelph on Saturday night in an evenly-fought battle, where the Mustangs pulled ahead to secure the victory, up 69-62.
The Mustangs faced the 13-6 Gryphons on Saturday night, and came out fighting.
It was a bit of a slow start to the quarter, with both sides remaining under ten points until the final two minutes of play.
Both teams then began to warm up a bit more, performing better offensively and managing to put twice as many points on the board in the last minutes of the quarter than in the first eight minutes of the quarter.
With the first quarter under their belt, the Mustangs trailed by one, down at 16-15.
Immediately out of the break, the Mustangs took back the lead from Guelph going up by two on their first possession of the quarter.
Western had managed to break up to a six point lead up at 26-20 at the mid point of the quarter, before the Gryphons managed to get back within two points.
Guelph has been seeing success on the offensive boards, slipping through the Mustangs defense and creating space to keep themselves back within reach of Western.
While they trailed in the first quarter, the Mustangs began to really connect and communicate with each other more effectively, to end the first half holding a narrow lead at 35-28.
It was a very fast-paced start to the second half of the game, with the Mustangs putting up double the number of points compared to Guelph in the first four minutes of play, extending their lead up to 43-32.
The Gryphons responded, following this Western run up going on a 7-0 run of their own, narrowing the gap down to 43-39.
In the final three minutes of the quarter Western continued their strong offensive effort, as they maintained their lead heading into the fourth.
Western's transition defense remained powerful throughout the quarter, beating the Gryphons down to cut them off in front of the basket.
As the final quarter began, the Mustangs were in the lead by two, 53-51.
The Gryphons were quick to tie the game up at 53 a piece in the first minute of play, as both sides engaged in intense defensive battle.
Western quickly pulled back into the lead, going up by three as the final three minutes of the game approached.
A back and forth ensued, with these evenly matched teams battling right down into the final plays of the game.
In the final seconds of the match, Western powered back into the lead, ultimately securing themselves the victory, improving to 11-09 in the regular season with a final score of 69-62.
Key Stats
Points - MacKeely Shantz (18)
Rebounds - MacKeely Shantz (15)
Assists - Sam Viddovic (4)
The Mustangs will face the Waterloo Warriors in their second-last game of the regular season, at 6 pm in Waterloo. Fans can tune in live at OUA.tv to support Western!
