Timely loss

For 20 minutes on Friday night, defence ruled the roost at the Thunderdome.

A lack of it ruled the rest of the way for the Lakehead Thunderwolves, who allowed 54 second-half points to the Laurier Golden Hawks and saw their modest two-game winning streak come to an endwith a 91-82 defeat.

“In the second half, we didn’t come out like we wanted to. We didn’t come out ready. From their first possession they were hyped, they wanted to win the game. There’s just no excuse for us. We got down, they attacked us and we just backed up,” said Wolves guard Joseph Jones, who had 11 points in a losing cause.

Wolves coach Scott Morrison said they did everything right they could in the first half, but for some unknown reason they couldn’t repeat it as the game wore on

“In the first half we made them work to move the ball around the perimeter. We made it tough for them to catch it inside. And we did a good job on the glass holding them to four offensive rebounds,” said Morrison, after his team dropped to 8-3, missing an opportunity to move into a first-place tie with Windsor in the OUA West Division.

“In the second half they moved the ball wherever they wanted. They caught the ball in the post anytime they wanted and we just playe on our heels on defence. That’s why they hung 54 points on us. I don’t think they shot that well. But they just moved the ball where they wanted to and their shots were good shots.”

After Laurier jumped out to a 5-0 lead, the Wolves ran off an 8-0 run of their own to go up three, a lead they’d keep until early in the disastrous third quarter.

Kale Harrison, who led all scorers with 25 points, one more than Lakehead’s Venzal Russell, pulled the Hawks to within a point at 16-15, hitting a pair of foul shots to narrow the gap.

Jones, however, stormed down the court and hit a jumper from beyond the arc, giving LU a four-point advantage.

Jones nailed a pair of foul shots to put Lakehead up by six, and they took a 22-17 advantage into the fourth.

Up 26-23, the Wolves ran off seven straight points to up their lead to a game-high 10 points, with Russell going coast to coast to put LU ahead 33-23.

But after Yoosrie Salhia missed a simple lay-up alone underneath the Laurier net, the Hawks found some steam and put together an 8-2 run and pulled to within five at the half.

Wing Maxwell Allin gave the Wolves a taste of things to come to open the second half, nailing a three-pointer that cut the Laurier deficit to a pair.

Allin tied the score and then the two teams traded hoops to sit tied 44-44.

It was as close as the Wolves would get the rest of the night, playing in front of a partisan home court crowd.

Harrison missed a three, but Matthew Buckley, whose 15 points made him one of four Laurier players to hit double digits, deposited the rebound to give the Hawks (8-3) their first lead since the first quarter.

They wouldn’t trail again, though the Wolves did even the score on two occasions.

The 27-14 third quarter difference was too much for Lakehead to overcome.

Russell brought his team to within six early in the fourth, but every time the Wolves responded, the Hawks seemed to have an answer.

In the end, time ran out, dashing any comeback dreams in rapid fashion.

Allin said once they figured out how to get the ball off the glass, the rest of their game plan just fell into place.

It just took a little while to get going.

“It’s definitely tough coming up here getting the win,” Allin said. “Hopefully we’ll bounce back and get one tomorrow. We shot the ball extremely well in the second half and we picked up our defence.”

The two teams meet again on Saturday night. Game time is 8 p.m.