Rewriting the record books

The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks’ men’s basketball team are putting forth an impressive start to the season, with their record now standing at 4-0.

On Friday evening, in front of a large crowd for their home opener, the Golden Hawks dismantled the Queen’s Gaels with ease by a score of 88-62.

The Hawks never trailed Queen’s at any point in the game, and were able to capitalize on several sloppy turnovers by the opposition.

Head coach Peter Campbell was impressed with his team’s performance for the most part.

“I thought at times we played really well, and at other times we played like we were ahead by a lot and lost our focus,” said the coach.

The leading scorer for the Hawks was Maxwell Allin who had 15 points to go along with six assists; good enough for tops in both categories for the evening.

Saturday afternoon was much of the same story, as the Royal Military College (RMC) Paladins came to the Laurier Athletic Complex and despite their best efforts, fell short by a devastating score of 130-72. Laurier’s offensive output was the highest in school history, and second most in OUA regular season history.

The Golden Hawks jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and never looked back from there, scoring 74 by half and being up by 27 going into the third quarter.

Patrick Donnelly, Connor Meschino and Kale Harrison all had 17 points each to lead the team, despite the starters not playing for the fourth quarter.

While the game was not very competitive, Laurier did get the opportunity to showcase their secondary players, something that Campbell appreciates and looks for.

“Guys off the bench, we just want them to control the play, eat up some minutes and avoid trouble,” said Campbell.

Against RMC, the Laurier bench did more than just protect the lead, as the Hawks featured a total of six players with 15 points or more.

However, with both games featuring quite decisive margins of victory, it can be hard for the team to stay focused for four quarters and stick to the hard-working style of play that coach Campbell demands.

Without trying to put a damper on the team’s success, Campbell did say that he looks for his star-studded unit to improve once the more challenging opponents come up on the schedule.

“It’s where we want to be at this point, but looking down the road, we have got to take care of business,” said Campbell who has been with the Golden Hawks since 2000.

“We aren’t playing as well as we want, and we’ve got some big games to come where we will need more out of Harrison, Max [Allin], and hopefully get [Matt] Buckley more involved.”

The Golden Hawks’ next game comes on Friday when Laurentian University rolls into town. Game time is 8 p.m.