THUNDER BAY -- It might have been a season-saving win.
At least that’s how Manny Furtado sees it.
His Lakehead Thunderwolves went on a fourth-quarter tear on Friday night and pulled off an OUA men’s basketball upset, knocking off the Brock Badgers 75-64 to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Guard Henry Tan led the way for the home-court Wolves, pouring in a game-high 21 points, while Alex Robichaud did what veterans are supposed to do down the stretch, hitting five straight free throws and a pair of final-quarter three-pointers, collecting 13 of his 17 points when it mattered most.
Furtado, who’s been known to be hard on his players when they don’t perform up to his lofty expectations, was elated with their latest effort.
“I think with the new RPI system, everything is magnified that much more, especially against Brock (5-4), who’ve had some wins against some teams that we’ve lost to and whatnot,” Furtado said.
“When you start getting into RPI your record doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”
After Friday night’s triumph, the Thunderwolves sit 14th in the ratings percentage index standings, which measure a team’s wins and losses and its strength of schedule.
For now, Lakehead still has to climb past Algoma (2-7) and Guelph (6-2) to position themselves in the top 12, but moved as step closer Friday night.
“Any game and every game we win it just helps our situation in getting to the top 12 for the year,” Furtado said.
It was a game neither side seemed to want to take control of through three quarters. In fact, neither team outscored the other by more than a point in each period.
Lakehead nudged ahead at the buzzer at the end of the first, Bacarius Dinkins slamming home a thunderous two-handed dunk and scoring the plus one for a 19-18 Thunderwolves lead.
Brock took the lead early in the second and stretched to as much as seven, but the Wolves closed the half on a 7-0 run, Tan collecting five of the seven points.
It was more of the same in the third, the lead changing hands six times before Johneil Simpson gave the Badgers a 50-49 lead through 30 minutes.
Dinkins gave Lakehead the lead for good in the first minute of the fourth, a Robichaud trey pushing the LU lead to seven with less than four minutes to go. Tyler Brown would later close the gap to four, but Tan buried a three with 2:12 to play and the Lakehead lead never dropped below eight again.
Dani Elgadi topped all Badgers scorers with 14. Brown had 12 and Daniel Cayer also hit double digits with 11.
Mor Menashe had a double-double for the Wolves, collecting 15 points and 10 rebounds to go with six assists and a steal.
The Wolves and Badgers tip off again on Saturday night at the Thunderdome at 8 p.m.
