Venzal Russell says there was no way he was going to let Jamie Searle and Andrew Hackner bow out on a losing note.
Russell scored 29 points on Saturday, as the Lakehead Thunderwolves finally got the Maritimes monkey off their back with a 75-67 win over the Acadia Axemen in the consolation semifinal at the CIS national men’s basketball championship at the Halifax Metro Centre.
“I just did it for my homeboys Jamie Searle and Andrew Hackner,” said Russell, a Detroit native who arrived in Thunder Bay this season after spending two years playing junior college ball in Minnesota. “They told me they didn’t want this to be their last game, so I just came out and gave it my all.”
The win was keyed by a 13-0 fourth-quarter run, which began after Acadia’s Justin Boutlier slammed home a thunderous dunk to give the Axemen a 59-58 lead, just their second of the matinee contest.
“Coach told us to get the ball in the paint. They went to the 2-3 and we started jacking up threes and then we got the ball back in the high post and set the tone of the game,” Russell said.
In fact, it was Searle who keyed the run, hitting back-to-back threes midway through the decisive quarter that pushed the LU lead back to five, at 64-59.
Russell chipped in the next five points, then Searle, who finished with 18, hit two-of-three from the line to establish a 12-point advantage, the 71-69 lead Lakehead’s biggest of the afternoon.
LU coach Scott Morrison said Russell does need to work on his consistency going forward, but this is exactly what he expected when he recruited him from south of the border.
“In certain games, where match-ups are right for him, he can really do some damage in the short corner and the high post area. We saw they were going to be a little smaller (than Trinity Western), it was maybe a little bit of a wide-eyed (feeling) for him and kind of getting us back to what’s comfortable for us, getting him back in the post and putting (Ryan) Thomson outside,” Morrison said.
Though it came on the consolation side of the draw, Morrison said at nationals, a win’s a win, a stepping stone for next year.
Morrison and the Wolves made the Final 8 last year, only to be thumped by both UBC and Cape Breton in their first appearance at nationals since 1977.
“I’m really pleased to get the win, not only because we needed to break the ice. I don’t think we can come in here looking to win three games until we can at least win one,” Morrison said. “So that was a big positive. And the other positive is I was really pleased with the guys coming out hard. Probably every coach that (coaches) in this game is concerned with how hard the team is going to come out.
“I don’t think we were as smart as we could be in the first three quarters, but I thought our guards especially gave a great effort in terms of the ball pressure and rebounding to give us a little cushion at halftime and we woke up.”
The cushion was about as thin as it could be, a one-point lead earned only when Thomson hit a three at the buzzer, giving the Wolves a 33-32 lead.
Russell, who had 16 at the half, picked it up again in the third, upping the lead to three with a bucket off the hop. Searle nailed a three-pointer, then Russell followed with another bucket to stretch the lead to eight.
But the Axemen, as they did all contest long, kept the pressure on the Wolves.
Down seven, Riverview, N.B.’s Anthony Sears ended Acadia’s 0-9 three-point futility streak to pull the Axemen to within four. Owen Klassen, who paced Acadia with 26, cut the lead to two, but a Searle three-pointer with 15 seconds to go gave Lakehead a 54-49 lead after 30 minutes.
Boutlier hit a pair of hoops to make it a one-possession game, then Sears and Boutlier, following a Searle basket, gave Acadia the lead.
On Sunday the Wolves will play the AUS top dog Dalhousie Tigers in the fifth place game. Tip-off is 9:30 a.m. EDT.
Acadia finishes the eight-team tournament in a tie for seventh with Concordia.
Claw marks: The Wolves were well-represented in the crowd, with at least 40 or so fans making the trek to Halifax to watch the action. At least one of those fans hitchhiked his way to Nova Scotia ... It was LU's first win in four tries in the Maritimes this season. The Wolves lost all three exhibition games they played here last fall, and fell 82-74 to Trinity Western in the quarterfinal ... Trinity Western will take on Carleton on Sunday for the national title. The Spartans downed No. 1 seed UBC on Saturday, 74-72, to make the final. Carleton beat Saskatchewan 95-83 in the other semifinal.
