Johnson, Russell kick T-Wolves season off on right foot

Ben Johnson started his sophomore season with style on Friday night, pouring in 22 points to lead the Lakehead Thunderwolves to an 84-52 thumping of the host Queen's Golden Gaels.

Fellow second-year star Venzal Russell added 17 points for the Wolves, who were making their 2011-12 regular-season debut on the road.

The No. 4-ranked Wolves, 0-10 from three-point land in the first 20 minutes, trailed the Golden Gaels 28-17 at halftime, but rebounded in a big way in the third quarter, outscoring their opponent 29-9.

Ryan Thomson turned the tide with an early three and Greg Carter, arguably the OUA's best defender, made five steals to pace the attack.

Carter had 14 points, while Nathan Wainright also hit double digits, notching 10.

Ryan Golden led Queen's with a dozen points, while MacKenzie Simpson scored 10 and added six rebounds.

"It was a slow start offensively for us as we had a tough time with Queen's style of defence which led to us forcing on offense and not moving the ball," said LU coach Scott Morrison. In the second half we did a better job kicking off our penetration and were able to knock down some outside shots which is always going to be a key for us on offence.

"I thought we did a decent job defending the Gaels' open concept offence though they did do a number on us in the rebounding category. We have to regroup and bring the confidence and execution from the second half tonight for 40 minutes tomorrow afternoon."

The Wolves take on RMC on Saturday in a matinee affair.