TORONTO – The University of Toronto Varsity Blues made some defensive adjustments at half-time, and it paid off.
The host team, which trailed 52-47 at the half, outscored the visiting Lakehead Thunderwolves 46-37 in the second half and went on to claim a 93-89 win, handing LU its fifth straight OUA men’s basketball defeat.
Chris Sagl was the top scorer for the Thunderwolves, dropping 24 on the Varsity Blues, to go with six rebounds, three assists and four steals.
But the rest of the starters could only manage a combined 35 points.
Sagl scored 10 of his points in the opening quarter, which saw the T-Wolves jump out to a 30-18 lead. Lakehead led by as many as 15 in the second quarter, going up 44-29 on a Tyler Sagl lay-up.
A Callum Baker three-point jump-shot cut the gap to seven, LU up 50-43 and a tip-in with 19 seconds to go in the period dropped the Thunderwolves lead to five at the half.
Lakehead kept the lead until the final minute of the third, when Baker sank a pair of free throws to tied the score 69-69. Josh Stongman restored a three-point LU lead with a shot from distance, but the lead dipped to one by the end of the frame.
Baker, who finished with 24 points, gave Toronto their first lead of the night at the 4:17 mark of the fourth and they took the lead for good three minutes later on a Nadav Sahar trey.
Sahar, who came off the bench, had 23 points for the Varsity Blues.
Lakehead and Toronto will tangle again on Saturday night to wrap up the first half of the season.
