Men’s basketball falls in blow-out

To cap off what Laurier called Super Saturday during which there were four home games at the Athletics Complex, the Golden Hawks men’s basketball team played host to the Windsor Lancers in what was a critical game for playoff positioning.

Unfortunately for the large crowd of predominantly Laurier fans, Windsor was the only team to put in a full game’s effort, putting a damper on a big day for Laurier athletics.

Despite hanging around for most of the first half, and even tying the game up early in the third quarter, the Golden Hawks were unable to keep pace with the explosive offense of Windsor, allowing the Lancers to shoot an impressive 49.3 per cent from the field.

“Our primetime guys weren’t primetime guys tonight and Windsor’s primetime guys were,” said Laurier coach Peter Campbell, in reference to Kale Harrison, Max Allin, and Patrick Donnelly having less than stellar performances.

Campbell did not hesitate to call out his stars, specifically Allin and Harrison, who both had off nights.

“We have a second-year guy [Allin], and a fourth-year guy [Harrison] that are supposed to be our leaders and they were not.”

Five-year veteran Isaac Kuon lead the way for the Lancers, dropping 24 points despite barely playing in the fourth quarter.

Together with Lien Phillip, who had 20, the second-place Lancers were able to put up an overwhelming 109 points, including 36 in the third quarter. The difference in the third quarter was clear to Campbell.

“We know they are more athletic than us, and we didn’t want to get into that battle and tried to avoid it,” he said. “In the third we played that game and they kicked our butts.”

Laurier did not have much to show for their poor effort, losing by 33 and at no point during the blowout did they have the lead.

“I didn’t like the way we competed,” said Campbell.

However, with a little direction there was one thing that the fiery coach did not mind seeing: “I liked Jamar Forde again tonight, and Pat [Donnelly] was good in the first half.”

Leading the way for the Hawks was Patrick Donnelly, who mustered up 14 points despite getting constant repairs on a banged up chin, suffered in the first half.

Up next for the Hawks is Waterloo on Jan. 16 and Brock on Jan. 19, both on the road. Then comes the playoffs, and pending results Laurier could host a game during reading week.