LU basketball squad moving on from recent loss

The Lakehead Thunderwolves men’s basketball team knows it gave one away last Saturday.

Armed with a one-point lead, 3.7 seconds on the clock and Jamie Searle at the free-throw line, the normally 90-per cent shooter missed both of his attempts and the Wolves found themselves in overtime against the not-so-docile Guelph Gryphons.

Lakehead owned a nine-point lead at halftime and couldn’t hang on, falling 69-62 to their last-place opponent.

It didn’t cost them a place in the standings, as the three teams chasing LU all lost too.

The Wolves (11-3) remain one game up on the Windsor Lancers (10-4) in the OUA West Division, but can’t afford a similar performance against their nearest rival on the road this weekend, said LU coach Scott Morrison.

While he said he’d rather have the win in the books, a loss in January is a lot better than one in the postseason.

"If that’s what it takes for the guys to learn that, that’s great. I think us coaches, we know that every team in this league is capable of beating everybody. I guess the guys found that out when they took their foot off the gas for a bit on Saturday," Morrison said. "But learning a lesson is fine, as long as it’s not like The Cosby Show, where we’re learning a lesson every week."

Windsor will be a much different story, Morrison said, noting his team has to find a way to put the disappointing loss out of their minds.

"I think what we’ve got to do is put all that stuff, like rankings and standings (out of our minds) and worry about what it takes to win on the weekend and making sure we get the job done like we did first semester," Morrison said.

Second-year guard Joseph Jones, who had 24 points in Friday’s 65-61 win over Guelph, said Saturday’s loss was a tough one to swallow, but one they won’t dwell on.

"We should have put it away in the fourth quarter, but we didn’t. We’ve just got to learn from that loss and put it behind us and actually use it as a motivation to stay focused, to learn that when we’ve got the lead to put teams away and don’t even give them a chance to get back into the game," Jones said.

The Lakehead men aren’t the only Thunderwolves squad heading to Windsor this weekend. The women’s team (9-5), coming off a two-game sweep of Guelph, will also take on the Lancers, who at 13-1 top the OUA West Division.