Comeback falls short

Down 19 points in the third quarter, the Lakehead Thunderwolves had no business beating the Brock Badgers

Take an inch or so off Joe Hart’s buzzer-beating three-point attempt and that’s exactly what they were poised to do.

But the shot instead clanked off the iron and left the Wolves (6-5) wondering what might have been.

As exciting as it was for the packed Thunderdome crowd, LU coach Scott Morrison had little good to say about the effort his team put forward in the 70-67 loss.

“No, I’m real disappointed in how we lost the game,” said Morrison, whose team trailed by 15 at the half.

“I thought our two work things were definitely our defensive rebounding, where they killed us off the offensive glass. They got 15 second chances. And the first half, defensively, we were flat-footed. They were getting to the paint, moving the ball where they wanted and our guys just thought they didn’t have to play defense until the second half. And it was a little too late.”

Lakehead hit just one of 14 three-point attempts in the opening half, four of 26 overall, and were just 19-61 from the field, a 31.1 per cent shooting effort.

That’s not good enough to get the job done, even against a 4-7 opponent.

“Our shooting was garbage, but all we had to do was get two more rebounds and we won this game. That’s what the message was after the game. Shooting was the last reason why we lost this game. It was defence and rebound and both those things are effort. It’s disappointing.”

The Thunderwolves did battle back after staking Brock to a 50-31 third-quarter lead.

Joseph Jones, who finished with 14, second to Ryan Thomson’s 16, stole the ball and raced down the court for the thunderous dunk to make it 52-41. Back and forth they went, Jones forcing another turnover off a Thomson miss, that made it 59-52.

But Jameson Tipping wasn’t about to let the momentum swing completely in the other direction, hitting a clutch three at the buzzer, giving Brock a 62-54 advantage heading to the final 10 minutes.

In the fourth Matt Schmidt hit a three to pull Lakehead within four, followed by an acrobatic drive to the hoop by Jones that made it 64-62. But each time the Wolves pulled within a possession, the Badgers had the answer.

If it wasn’t Jameson it was Mark Gibson, who stretched the Brock lead to seven with just over a minute to play, seemingly enough of a cushion to put the game away. But Ben Johnson had other ideas.

His three-pointer made it 69-65, and after a turnover Thomson scored to make it a two-point game again with less than a minute to go.
The Wolves caught a break when Brock was charged with an offensive foul, but a rebound rolled out of bounds at Yoosrie Salhia’s feet and the Badgers took over.

Schmidt made an improbable steal and set up Hart with the potential game winner.

With less than a second to play, after Kenora seven-footer Mike Luby hit one of two free throws Thomson had one final chance, heaving a desperation shot from the Lakehead zone, but it clanged off the rim, ending the contest.

Lakehead and McMaster are now tied for second place in the OUA West, 1.5 games behind Windsor, who take on 1-9 Waterloo on Sunday.