The Laurier men’s basketball team suffered a tough loss in their final regular season home game at the hands of the Western Mustangs.
The Hawks were up 15-10 after the first quarter.
But thanks to Western guard Omar Shiddo, Laurier’s lead did not last long.
Shiddo scored a game high of 36 points, with 23 of those coming in the second quarter.
After the first quarter, the game flipped on its head and the Mustangs never looked back, winning by a final score of 88-65.
Head coach Justin Serresse spoke about the Hawks’ shortcomings after the game.
“I’m going to have to watch the tape. I didn’t feel great going into the game, to tell you the truth,I didn’t like the vibe, everything was rushed,” he said.
“The senior’s night thing, it was just too many distractions. We got off to a good start defensively, we were in a fight, but we can’t let one guy score 36 points with 23 in just one quarter. I’m just extremely disappointed with the effort. We gave up 21 offensive rebounds, we settled offensively and we turned it over 24 times. We probably need some time off right now just to regroup a little bit.”
The Hawks seemed out of sync on both ends of the court as soon as the second quarter started.
They couldn’t find an answer for Omar Shiddo, while also struggling to corral rebounds, as they ended up conceding a staggering 21 offensive boards to Western.
On offence, it seemed as if the Hawks couldn’t buy a bucket for certain stretches of the game.
Serresse stressed making at least two passes on offence before shooting the ball and while ball movement is never a bad thing, it looked like the Hawks were just too passive at times.
“We did have 18 assists, but we weren’t aggressive with the ball movement. We were doing it without any purpose. That’s not a good thing,” Serresse said.
Not only was this the last home game of the season for the Hawks, it was also the last home game for seniors Matt Chesson and Owen Coulthard.
Chesson and Coulthard are two key players for the Hawks and their presence will be missed next year for this team.
“It’s tough, going out on such a bad note. I just feel bad for them. They played hard today. They tried their best, but the rest of the team didn’t follow. There’s a lot of guys that need to check themselves right now. We didn’t come out with the urgency,” Serresse said.
This loss is a tough pill to swallow for the Hawks, especially since it was against the rivaled Western Mustangs.
However, it is crucial for this team to keep its head up heading into the final regular season game against Lakehead.
Winning cures everything and ending the season with a victory will provide a massive boost for the Hawks.
