MBB: Wolves collapse against visting Badgers

Late in the first half, the Lakehead Thunderwolves appeared to be on cruise control.

Up 14 and controlling the play, without warning the bottom fell out of their offensive engine, as the Brock Badgers roared back and took control in the third quarter to steal a 76-73 victory that sent a packed Thunderdome crowd home wondering what went so wrong.

LU men’s basketball coach Manny Furtado was asking the same questions after the game, the Wolves second-half home opener.

“I don’t know what to tell you – experience, energy? We had them on the ropes there, one possession, two possessions (more) you get (the lead) higher. Instead they go on a run … and we didn’t respond,” said Furtado, whose team fell to 4-4, and more importantly let the fourth-place Badgers (3-5) climb a game closer in the race for the final playoff spot in the OUA Central Division.

“We came out in the second half and it was the same thing, especially that part when we had I don’t even know how many possessions, until I watch the film, and we just had bad shot selections, bad turnovers, that kind of stuff.

“Is it an area of concern? For sure.”

LU guard Jamar Coke, who finished with 13 points, said it was a disappointing finish.

“We just made some bad decisions down the stretch, a couple bad turnovers,” the second-year player said.

“We weren’t making shots and they made a run and we came up short.”

Coke laid the blame firmly at the Thunderwolves feet.

“We stopped pushing the tempo. We weren’t pushing the ball as much as we were in the first half. They started pushing it more on us and we just crumbled defensively.”

The Wolves, who still have road matchups against the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country on their second-half schedule against Ottawa and Carleton next weekend on the road, can’t afford many more losses of this variety.

The team has set a 9-3 goal in the second half, and opening with a loss leaves them little wiggle room to achieve the mark.

“We went into this weekend saying we needed to win two games and came up short. Tomorrow we have to come in focused and get the win,” said Coke, who hit the three-pointer that stretched the LU lead to 14 in the second.

Lakehead simply couldn’t stop Brock rookie Johneil Simpson, who finished with a game-high 26 points.

Simpson drained a three at the first-half buzzer to cut Brock’s deficit to four, then dropped another to open the third to pull the Badgers within one.

Teammate Matthew Hall took over with six points as Brock took their first lead since scoring the opening basket of the game and the Badgers and Wolves traded the lead four more times before the end of the third.

Brock took a three-point lead into the fourth and never led by more than four.

Ryan Doornick, who only managed four points, buried a three early in the fourth to put the Wolves on top by one, but Lakehead faltered down the stretch, a mixture of bad shooting decisions.

Lakehead had a chance to tie in the dying seconds, down three, but missed a chance to hit Alex Robichaud for an open three-point attempt, instead settling for an Anthony McIntosh bucket underneath.

Nolan MacKenzie hit a pair of free throws to seal the win for the Badgers.

Tip off Saturday night is 8 p.m.