THUNDER BAY – Johneil Simpson’s reward for hitting a game-winning three-pointer with 10 seconds to go on Saturday night is a chance to do it all over again.
This time their playoff lives will be at stake.
The Brock Badgers forward hit a high-arcing shot with time running out on Saturday night to help scrape out a 73-72 win over the host Lakehead Thunderwolves, setting up a win-or-go-home one-game playoff between the two teams on Wednesday night.
It was a tough way to lose, said senior forward Nick Burke, who missed a go-ahead put-back at the buzzer that would have given the Wolves the win and a fifth-place finish in the OUA West.
“We definitely had a good chance to win at the end,” said Burke, whose home-court finale saw him close with 11 points.
“We had a really tough shot in transition, but we see them again on Wednesday so it should be a different story.”
Once again the Thunderwolves couldn’t hold onto a lead in the final minute.
Davarius Wright extended LU’s lead to five with 50 seconds to play, wrenching the ball away from Brock’s Cassidy Ryan and racing down the court to make it a 72-67 contest. But the Badgers responded in a matter of seconds, Keascius Small-Martin nailing his fourth three-pointer of the night that closed the gap to two.
It was then that inexperience reared its ugly head.
The Thunderwolves worked the shot clock, fired and missed, Isaiah Traylor coming down with the rebound and seemingly able to burn another 14 seconds off the clock, which would have forced the Badgers to foul.
Instead Traylor went straight to the hoop, did not get the foul call and turned the ball over, freeing Simpson for his game-winning shot.
Lakehead coach Ryan Thomson said it was unfortunate, but a learning experience for his team, who won seven of 11 down the stretch to grab the sixth and final playoff spot in the conference.
“Things happen,” Thomson said. “I think the intensity of the game maybe just overwhelmed a couple guys. They’re young. That happens.”
That Lakehead was even in it until the end was a tad surprising, given the start.
Brock, stung by a 20-point loss the night before that ended any hope of a first-round bye, opened a 21-6 kead after one and grew it to 18 when Ryan opened the second with a trey.
But Quincy Johnson, Lock Lam and Jared Kreiner hit back-to-back-to-back threes, part of an 11-0 run, and Lakehead was back within seven, the deficit holding through 20 minutes.
Lam pushed the Thunderwolves in front four minutes into the third, Lam hitting from long distance, three of his team-leading 19 on the night.
They led by as much as six and took a 58-56 lead into the fourth.
Rookie Blake Anderson was key for the Wolves in the final period, twice hitting three-pointers that pushed his team in front.
“When me an Jared get going, we amp each other up and we just bring energy for both of us,” said Anderson, who wound up with 11 points.
“We were hoping to bring out the W and get two wins at home on the last weekend, but we couldn’t do that. We had some errors down the stretch that led to a tough loss.”
