THUNDER BAY -- Heaven help the OUA if Manny Furtado follows through on his promise to unleash Bacarius Dinkins.
The Thunderwolves forward scored 20 points on Saturday night, including a two thunderous second-half dunks off the offensive glass, to lead Lakehead to a 65-52 Thunderdome win over the visiting Algoma Thunderbirds.
The Florida import also added a dozen rebounds to compete the double-double, one of the few bright spots in Furtado’s eyes in a game that was too sloppy for the third-year coach’s liking.
A fuming Furtado blasted his team after the win, but did have nice things to say about Dinkins Menashe, who spent the summer in his native Israel, dropped 13 from the backcourt, dishing out six assists in the process.
“I just need to let him do his thing,” said Furtado of Dinkins, an OUA second-team all-star a year ago.
“He’s one of the best big men in the OUA and I think sometimes I restrict him a little bit. He’s our best player, hands down. The ball’s got to go to him, he’s got to make some plays. He made the biggest plays of the game when it counted, some put-backs, some offensive boards and whatnot.”
The soft-spoken Dinkins said he’s up to the task, if called upon.
“I’m comfortable with that. I’m just waiting around to see what (coach) says. If he does that, I think I’d be better off with that, make more plays and play much better,” Dinkins said.
While it’s nice to see Dinkins off to a great start, Furtado said the Wolves can’t just rely on him, others have to step up.
In their opener, that other guy was Israeli-born guard Mor Menashe, who scored 13 points and dished out six assists in his first regular-season game since 2015, after sitting out all of last season with a hand injury.
It’s a good sign of things to come, Furtado said.
“He’s just calming, knows the game. He’s experienced. He’s another set of eyes out there on the court. He sees some things I don’t, so it’s good communication that we have with him.”
Menashe, for his part, is just glad to be back.
“I was waiting for this moment to be back on the floor, play with my guys, have some fun, and it definitely was a good first win.”
It’s a learning process, he added, noting that mistakes were made, despite the 13-point difference on the scoreboard.
“We try to take some lessons from each game that we have. We knew in our game plan and our coach kept telling us these guys are not giving up, for 40 minutes and even more,” Menashe said.
Lakehead led by six after one and by 13 at the half, but the Thunderbirds out-scored them 17-13 in the third quarter, cutting into the lead with a 9-2 run to start the period.
Reng Gum topped all Algoma scorers with 14, two more than Adam Benrabah.
Guard Henry Tan was the only other Lakehead player in double digits.
Court shots: Lakehead takes on McMaster next weekend in Hamilton.
