THUNDER BAY – Don’t look now, but if the OUA men’s basketball season ended today, the Lakehead Thunderwolves would be a playoff team.
The resurgent squad on Saturday rode a 16-0 second-quarter run to a 79-73 win over the ninth-ranked Western Mustangs, completing an improbable weekend sweep that pulled them into a tie for sixth place in the OUA West with the Windsor Lancers at 6-12.
The win came on the heels of Friday night’s equally unlikely 85-84 triumph, but really didn’t come as a surprise to fourth-year guard Isaiah Traylor, who followed a 29-point effort in the opener with a 17-point performance in the rematch, including a pair of long-distance bombs early in the fourth that stretched the LU lead from two to eight.
“When I got interviewed earlier this year, I said there was going to be a time when the ball was going to start rolling in our court,” said Traylor, an NCAA transfer from Tupelo, Miss., best known as the birthplace of Elvis Presley.
“It’s our turn now. Everybody is just locked in. We tell each other … you still have to lock in to finish the game.”
Traylor, who hit four of 10 attempts from beyond the arc, pulled up and fired a pair of bombs from well behind the line and said it’s that ability that landed him in Thunder Bay.
“I don’t believe coach brought me here to not take big shots. I do what I do. I get my repetitions in practice and after practice and they happened to fall for me this game,” Traylor said.
He wasn’t the only Thunderwolves player to find his long-distance range.
Rookie Jared Kreiner, who hit the game-winner on Friday with 14 seconds to play, was at it again on Saturday.
He buried a three to end the third and give the Wolves a two-point lead, did it again early in the fourth as LU went ahead for good, and restored a 15-point advantage with four to go, after Western’s Nikola Farkic put an end to the 16-0 run with a three of his own.
“Both those guys had great weekends,” said Lakehead coach Ryan Thomson. “Isaiah and Jared can both get a little trigger-happy at times, so that’s something we’re always a little bit wary of, but when they get good shots, more often than not, I’m confident they’re going in.”
The Mustangs, smarting after Friday’s loss that will now almost assuredly bounce them from the top 10, were able to build a seven-point lead in the first, thanks in part to 14 points in the period from Omar Shiddo. He led all scorers with 26.
But Lakehead closed the gap to one by quarter’s end and trailed by just three at the half.
Guard Nick Burke, who had 10 in the first and wound up with a double-double, collecting 16 points and 10 rebounds, said a strong start was key.
“We really wanted to come out of the gates aggressive, set the tone for the game. Really, I was just trying to get to the rim,” Burke said.
It’s a weekend he won’t soon forget.
“This was the first time all season we’ve been able to string two games together and it shows that we’re really going as a team and going forward we’re going to make a real playoff push,” the fifth-year guard said.
“It really started on the defensive end. We were able to force turnovers and really get on our transition game, make easy buckets, build the lead and then hold on to the end.”
The Wolves hit the road for a pair against last-place Waterloo next weekend.
