THUNDER BAY -- Alex Robichaud had a chance to send Friday’s game against the Western Mustangs to overtime.
It was inexplicable, almost.
The Lakehead Thunderwolves struggled shooting, hitting just 25 per cent from the field, and made bad passing decisions most of the night, yet somehow found themselves in a one-possession game as the clock ticked toward zero.
But the fairy-tale ending was not to be.
Robichaud didn’t get a great look along the baseline and his desperation would-be game-tying shot sailed long, the Mustangs earning their first win in four attempts this season, a 53-51 triumph at the Thunderdome that dropped the Wolves to 1-3.
Teams don’t win too many games when they shoot that poorly, said Robichaud who led his team with a dozen points, one of four Thunderwolves to hit double digits.
And it spirals from there, he said.
“Down the stretch we weren’t making the best decisions. We were trying to get the ball to Bacarius (Dinkins) because Bacarius has been our leaders these past couple of years. I think we were trying to get it to him a little too much and we turned the ball over too many times,” Robichaud said.
It’s an assessment Manny Furtado agreed with wholeheartedly. The third-year coach was frustrated on the sidelines, watching his team struggle to score inside, putting up too many missed shots and making too many careless mistakes.
“We turned over the ball too much, especially down the stretch and gave up too many easy baskets when it mattered most,” Furtado said.
“The play that sticks in my mind was when it was 40-40 and we go down and miss an open lay-up. They come down and bang a three and it kind of just sucked the air right out of us.”
Lakehead led 15-9 after one quarter, but took more than eight minutes to land their first field goal in the second period and trailed 20-19 at the half.
This kind of production just won’t cut it at the OUA level.
“Quarters like that are tough. We’re out there working hard, we’re making the right decisions, finding the right guy, but sometimes the shot isn’t falling. So we have to make better decisions and try to score other ways,” Robichaud said.
The two teams battled furiously in the third quarter, nine lead changes punctuating a back-and-forth period that saw the Mustangs lead by two when all was said and done.
The visitors pushed their advantage to seven, up 53-46 with less than two minutes to go, but Darnell Curtin buried a three to pull the Wolves within four. Robichaud hit a pair of free throws to narrow the gap to two, the two teams trading missed lay-ups in the final minute of regulation.
The Wolves took possession with about 16 seconds to go, but Lakehead guard Henry Tan’s pass to Mor Menashe sailed out of bounds untouched.
The Mustangs took over, but instead of getting a foul call on an entanglement off a throw-in, officials called a jump ball, giving the Wolves one last chance to tie the game.
Beyond the arc: Weather woes mean only the men’s team will play on Saturday night. Lakehead and Windsor will tip off at 7 p.m. The women’s game has been moved until Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
