After spending much of the first three years of his Lakehead Thunderwolves’ basketball career on the bench, Anthony McIntosh is getting court time and stepping up as a leader.
His job is to lead the Thunderwolves through their toughest weekend of the regular season.
The Thunderwolves welcome two of the top teams in Canada to the Thunderdome this weekend, as they take on the three-time defending champion No. 1 Carleton Ravens tonight followed by the No. 3 Ottawa GeeGees on Saturday.
After only playing in 32 games during his first three years, McIntosh has stepped up this campaign by averaging 16.5 points per game during the team’s first two regular season contests last weekend.
“Just to come off the bench for most of my career it’s finally nice to get some recognition for the work you’ve put in,” McIntosh said after receiving the team’s player of the month award for October.
“There were a lot of good guys ahead of me at my position last year, so it’s about remaining consistent and finally getting a shot. It’s my chance as a senior on the team.”
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Lakehead interim coach Matt Erdman said he isn’t surprised by McIntosh’s quick start, and explained the forward is just starting to fulfill expectations after a few injury plagued campaigns.
“This is what we expected out of Anthony when we recruited him,” Erdman said. “Maybe it’s taken a little bit longer because of his knee injuries.”
Erdman credits an improved post game and refined jump shot as being significant factors for the senior’s early success.
Consistency is something the entire team has been searching for in this season’s infancy, as this year’s squad has brought together a whole host of new faces.
While graduations and departures opened the door for McIntosh to get into the regular rotation, the unfamiliar pieces have had to take time getting on the same page.
This is a process that has taken longer than expected, McIntosh said.
One of the primary issues has been getting the entire team to pull in the same direction for an entire game.
“Our main problem is just sticking to the game plan,” McIntosh said. “Coach always prepares a perfect game plan for us, and it’s just about sticking to it for 40 minutes as opposed to just 20 minutes or one quarter a game.”
In addition to not sticking to their tactics, the team has also been plagued by slow starts in quite a few of their games.
This was most evident in their 84-64 regular season opening loss to Queen’s on Nov. 1.
“I think we learned some valuable lessons that regardless of who you play, where you play, it’s all about the mindset in how you approach the game,” Erdman said.
“The experience level isn’t there with the guys we can dig a hole and get out of it.”
Up first for the Thunderwolves is Carelton, the team that vanquished Lakehead’s national title hopes in last season’s final.
With the game, Lakehead’s regular season home opener, coming against their archrival, the Thunderdome is sure to be electric.
A fast start is vital to their hopes of pulling off an upset.
“You have to punch them before they hit you,” McIntosh said.
The two teams have already played once early this year, as the Ravens prevailed 79-60 in their exhibition tournament in Ottawa.
McIntosh said the Ravens are a disciplined team that specializes in capitalizing on mistakes. He said that for the Thunderwolves to be successful they must play a near flawless match.
