Lakehead pulls away in fourth, downs winless Algoma

The Algoma Thunderbirds may be winless, but taking them for granted could be a mistake.

The Lakehead Thunderwolves learned that lesson full well on Friday night, not pulling away until late in the fourth quarter to eke out a 74-64 win that was never locked down until the final two minutes of the back-and-forth contest.

“A win’s a win, but we’ve got to look back at things and understand why we’re making the mistakes we’re making, understanding what the scout(ing report) is, understanding what the game plan is,” said first-year coach Manny Furtado.

“I think it’s those 50-50 plays that are really just kicking us in the butt right now. You make them take a tough shot, but someone gets in there and gets an offensive board. It’s a momentum builder or gives them a second chance or a three-point opportunity. We didn’t get enough of that and they did.”

The Thunderbirds, who entered play winless on the season, proved pesky, holding a 46-44 lead as late as the third quarter.

They trailed by one after 30 minutes, and even after LU took the lead for good on a Dwayne Harvey three-pointer, the Thunderbirds kept hanging on throughout most of the fourth, making it a one-possession game when Terrell Campbell drained a three-pointer of his own with about two minutes left in regulation. 

The difference, said Furtado, was fifth-year guard Harvey.

Up two in the final two minutes, Harvey outmuscled the Algoma defence to snare a crucial offensive board off an Anthony McIntosh miss, then promptly sunk the ensuing two free throws after being fouled underneath the hoop trying to protect the ball.

“We always want to be aggressive in everything we do. We got to the rim a lot more and that’s because of Dwayne. That’s his forte, getting to the rim. Sometimes he can draw two and kick it out to a shooter or post up off it. And we did that in the second half,” Furtado said.

Harvey finished with a double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing a dozen rebounds. Fourteen of the points came in the second half, which the Wolves entered deadlocked 32-32.

A trio of Thunderwolves – McIntosh, Henry Tan and Mor Menashe – wound up in double figures, each collecting 11 points.

Lakehead also got a strong performance off the bench from Addy Ogunye, who scored four points and added five rebounds in just 16 minutes of action.

The Thunderbirds (0-12) were led by Adam Benrabah’s 15-point night. Campbell finished with 11.

To thieir credit, Algoma never gave up, Furtado said.

“They’re a scrappy bunch. They never quit. They’ve got some guys inside who can rebound. They’ve got some energy guys that do the little things.”

The win was a bit of redemption for their 2013-14 meeting, a 64-54 Algoma win in the Thunderbirds first season at the OUA level.
With the win the Wolves improved to 6-6, tied for second in the OUA Central.

Beyond the arc: The former No. 1 Carleton Ravens dropped a 74-71 decision to Windsor, their second loss of the season, the most since they finished 20-2 in 2009-10 … Lakehead will host Waterloo and Laurier next weekend.