The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men’s basketball team proved that they can compete with the best of them as they finished the first half of their season this weekend with a win over the Ryerson Rams, 89-76, and a win over the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, 94-85, leaving them with a record of 6-2.
This is notably better than last year at this time, when the Hawks were struggling with a record of 3-5.
“It’s a good start to the season for us and we want to carry it over to the second half,” said third-year guard, Travis Berry. “Our team has a lot of confidence right now. We battled Carleton hard, we battled UBC in preseason hard, and we think we’re right there with those teams.”
When asked what the difference is between the team this year and last year at this time, Berry said that something just clicked.
He explained that the new rookies are playing strong both defensively and offensively and that many of the players worked really hard over the summer to improve their game.
“Offensively we played reasonably well. We didn’t shoot the ball as well as I would’ve liked, but we never will shoot the ball as well as I’d like,” said head coach Peter Campbell after the game against Toronto.
“Defensively I thought we broke down in a number of spots. We knew who was going to shoot the ball for them but we didn’t get to those guys every time. Some of that is just because they’re such good players and such good shooters.”
“[Rookie Jamar Forde] has been doing a fantastic job on defence,” said Berry. “Our team has always struggled with covering wings and that.”
Meanwhile, “[Rookie Nathan Thompson], all 100 pounds of him, shoots the ball and he’s got a great shot on him. He comes off with confidence,” he said. “He’s doing a great job.”
Campbell also expressed satisfaction at Forde and Thompson’s performance thus far in the season.
“We thought [Forde] and [Thompson] would be a little bit further away from making a serious contribution, but they both played well,” said Campbell after the game against the Varsity Blues.
In regards to their win over Ryerson, veteran Matthew Buckley led his team with a career high of 23 points.
“Since I’ve been here for three years it’s the best start we’ve had, so I’m pretty excited about the way things are shaping up,” he said about his feelings on his team’s performance during the first half of the season.
Over the break the Hawks take on Daeman College in two non-conference games and they resume their season in January in Hamilton against McMaster.
