MBB: Wolves come up short after impressive fourth-quarter rally

Turnovers are a basketball coach’s worst friend.

Make 19 of them in one night, like Manny Furtado’s Lakehead Thunderwolves did on Friday night, and chance are a team will be staring at the loss column.

Give Henry Tan and the Wolves credit.

They almost pulled this one out in spite of themselves.

Trailing by 10 points midway through the fourth quarter against the visiting Winnipeg Wesmen, the Thunderwolves had the Thunderdome crowd on its feet, first when Tan buried a three inside of two minutes to tie the game 71-71.

One possession later they took the lead, their first since early in the opening quarter, when Mor Menashe drove through the key and laid it in to put the Wolves ahead 73-72.

But the Wesmen, already smarting from a loss the night before, found their composure and pulled out a 76-73 win. Ryan Oirbans, who joined the fray after Denzel Lynch-Blair fouled out in the final minute, scored the go-ahead bucket and drained a pair of foul shots to seal the win.

Lakehead who got the ball back with 19.5 seconds left, down a point, chose not to call timeout to set a play, instead leaving it up to Thursday night’s hero Bacarius Dinkins, whose shot rolled off the rim. Tanner Parrington had a final chance to tie the game, but had his shot blocked at the buzzer.

It’s a game Furtado said the Thunderwolves probably didn’t deserve to win.

“The beginning of the third was just turnover-laden and I thought it gave them some momentum and whatnot,” Furtado said.

“For our fourth game, down 10 or 11 in the fourth, we made a run and were up one with about 40 seconds to go. We had the ball down one with 19 seconds and it was either call a timeout and get the ball on the sidelines or not let their defence set up and see if we could get a good shot.”

It’s a possession he’d like to have over again.

“We went a little bit early and Bacarius had a lay-up at the basket that just didn’t go for us. But we’ll just look at the film, make some adjustments and learn from it.”

The loss dropped the Wolves to 3-1 in pre-season play, with Algoma on the horizon in Thunder Bay next weekend.

Tan led the Wolves with 25, hitting five of nine from beyond the arc. Menashe was the only other Thunderwolves player in double digits, with 17, to go with a team-leading eight rebounds.

Lakehead also got an impressive effort out of rookie Quinn Johnson, who started the contest and finished with eight points and seven boards.

The Wolves dominated the rebounding category, collecting 40 to Winnipeg’s 19. The Wesmen, led by Jelane Pryce’s 29-point effort, made just seven turnovers.