“Book that flight, we’re going to Ottawa.”
The words came from Joseph Jones, who played the role of hero for the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Saturday, scoring 23 points to lead his team to a 78-64 rout of the No. 6 Windsor Lancers in the bronze-medal game at the OUA Wilson Cup at Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto.
The win returns LU men’s basketball team to nationals for the fourth straight year, where they’ll join OUA finalists Carelton and Ottawa, having grabbed the circuit’s second assigned berth in the eight-team event.
Jones, who drove hard to the net all game, but also displayed a tender touch from beyond the arc, nailing three long-distance bombs, said there was no way the Wolves were letting one last shot at a national title slip away.
“We were definitely fired up,” he told The Score after what may have been the most important performance of his Lakehead career, which ends next weekend win or lose.
“After that loss to Carleton yesterday it made us realize what we really needed to get back to. We kind of got away from us. We have our style of play. We looked at the negatives and we took our positives and put more positives in today’s game.”
Jones, who finished with 13 points in the opening half, and his teammates looked at ease from the get-go, despite allowing the Lancers to open a quick 4-0 lead.
Lakehead guard Ben Johnson, who has struggled shooting, hit a quick three-pointer, then pivot Yoosrie Salhia dropped a hook shot that gave Lakehead its first lead of the weekend.
Jones tied the game again moments later, and the Wolves never trailed again.
Jones dropped his first three of the contest, Joe Hart buried another, and the Wolves, who hit just four shots in the first half against Carleton on Friday, used that momentum to carry the day. They hit four three-pointers in the first quarter alone in the win.
“We just wanted to attack. We wanted to come out and be the aggressor today and just keep going strong, no matter what happened,” Jones said. “If they made a score, we’re going to come back and put another dagger on them.
LU took a 19-12 lead into the second quarter, and bumped it to nine with a 7-0 run, but the Lancers weren’t ready to give up just yet.
Anthony Lincombe pulled Windsor to within five, then a pair of free throws made it a one-possession game. But with the buzzer about to sound, Joey Nitychoruk extended the lead to five at the half.
Lakehead took control in the third, despite the return of Windsor's all-star guard Josh Collins, who missed Friday's semifinal with an ankle injury.
Dwayne Harvey went coast-to-coast to make it 37-29 then Johnson hit a three – though couldn’t convert the rare four-point play – and the lead hit double digits, where it stayed the rest of the way, Lakehead owning a 57-46 lead after three.
Johnson fed Harvey on a Lakers-era fast-break pass to start the fourth, then hit another trey that put the game out of reach.
Matt Schmidt and Jones both stretched the lead to 20 at different times, a pair of unanswered three-pointers by the Lancer reserves not nearly enough to avoid the loss.
"I was extremely proud of our basketball team today. After yesterday's poor showing the guys had a lot of reasons to be down. However our true strengths as a team shone through today in the form of a big heart, excellent teamwork and the confidence that should come from winning as many big games as this group has won over the years. Add one more to that list," said LU coach Scott Morrison, still without injured all-star forward Ryan Thomson.
Lakehead shot 29-56 in the contest, a 51.8 per cent clip, and it proved to be the difference. Windsor, who topped the OUA West in the regular season, managed to hit just 22 of 69 shots fired up. OUA West MVP Lien Phillip led all Lancers with 15.
Beyond the arc: The Thunderwolves have failed to win their opening game at nationals the past three years and will look to end that streak in Ottawa ... Harvey finished with 14 and Johnson chipped in 11 ... Windsor's Enrico Diloreto was assessed with an intentional foul for shoving Lakehead's Greg Carter in the fourth and the Wolves up 19 at the time ... Other teams qualified for nationals include UBC, Victoria and McGill. An AUS representative and the wild-card berth have yet to be determined.
