THUNDER BAY – The Lakehead Thunderwolves have a long line of success bringing in players from south of the border.
Kiraan Posey, the team’s all-time leading scorer, Warren Thomas, Joseph Jones and, more recently, Bacarius Dinkins, are examples of players who made the trek north and had a major impact on the men’s basketball program.
Devarius Wright is hoping to add to that list.
The Minneapolis native, a fourth-year transfer from Rainy River Community College, on Saturday night demonstrated he’s got the talent to land himself in the conversation, scoring a game-high 28 points, grabbed six boards, dished out three assists, made two blocks and collected a pair of steals, leading the Wolves to a 90-76 win over the visiting Algoma Thunderbirds.
Three of his five three-pointers came in a 16-point second half, the Wolves rallying back from three down at the half to secure the weekend split at the C.J. Sanders Fieldhouse.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Wright, who averaged 18.3 point a night last season.
“It’s a great win. Twenty-eight points, I contributed for my team. Last game I played a little down. I just brought the intensity this game and got the W.”
Thunderwolves coach Ryan Thomson said he’s been working with his 6-foot-6 guard on perfecting an important aspect of his game.
“He’s as talented as they get. The thing we’re working on with him is being able to consistently make that perimeter jumper. He’s been working on it and it paid off for him tonight,” Thomson said.
Wright said the team found a way to flip the switch on Saturday night, after last-minute miscues cost them Friday night’s season opener, a 71-69 defeat at the hands of the same Thunderbirds team.
“I think just the emotions of how we lost last night, it was kind of terrible, and it was a close game. We just brought the energy from last night to today, and we got the win.”
It helped that Wright wasn’t the only LU player who stepped up.
Rookie Blake Anderson, inserted into the starting lineup, hit four three-pointers en route to a 17-point night, after being held to one off the bench in his OUA debut the night before.
Anderson, a native of Brantford, Ont., said the team paid more attention to their work on the glass. Control the ball, win the game, he said.
“We realized we were struggling with rebounding in the first game and the first half of this game. Coach came in at halftime and told us to rebound, that it was the only thing that needed to change for us to win the game, and that’s what we did,” Anderson said.
Getting that kind of production out of hi freshman guard is a good sign, Thomson said.
“Blake’s just a hard worker. He’s one of those guys that by the end of his five years, you’re going to have to be kicking him out of the gym. He’s always here lifting, shooting and he always plays hard.”
The Wolves took the lead for good in the third, Nick Burke driving the lane for a 47-45 advantage. Moments later a Lock Lam trey made it 55-48, a lead they’d extend to as much as 17 in the fourth before taking their feet off the pedal in the final couple of minutes of play.
Burke finished with nine points and 10 assists. Nathan Riley led the Thunderbirds with 21, Elijah Butler pouring in 13.
The Wolves hit the road next weekend for games against Nipissing and Laurentian.
