MBB | Voyageurs Upend Golden Hawks, 106-89
In another packed Ben Avery Gym, the Voyageurs men's basketball team welcomed the Laurier Golden Hawks in what proved to be a continuation of their dominant play from the night before. Never relinquishing the lead in the game, the Voyageurs upended the Golden Hawks 106-89 to finish with a clean 2-0 record in their opening weekend.
In what seemed to be almost an identical start to their previous game, the Voyageurs opened the scoring when Nelson Yengue put in his first of 19 after a beauty pass from JD West. Second-year guard, Kadre Gray, was also quick to assert his presence in the game as he fed his first of 10 assists to Yengue to keep the Voyageurs up early. Timely defensive stops and good ball movement sent the Voyageurs into the second up 11.
A couple of turnovers by both teams to begin the second eventually led to a Golden Hawks bucket from beyond the arc which seemed to spark veteran Voyageur, David Aromolaran to get in on the offensive action as he drained 8 of his 16 points in the quarter. JD West followed suit draining two straight three's to increase the lead to 14 at the half.
The Golden Hawks came out of the break firing, led by the team's high-scorer, Tevaun Kokko and forward Vlad Matovic who dropped 8 of his 12 points in the third, cutting the Voyageurs lead to 8 after thirty minutes.
After a Golden Hawks tally early in the fourth, the Voyageurs' Anthony Iacoe sandwiched two makes from beyond the arc with a fast break layup to collect 8 of his 14 points just two minutes into the quarter. There was no looking back for the Voyageurs after that as they steadily increased their lead to 17 to finish the game up 106-89.
Solid defense (outrebounding the Golden Hawks 32-23), and strong shooting (67% from the field) solidified the win for the Voyageurs.
Gray enjoyed his first triple-double of his young USPORTS career (28 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists) while Yengue chipped in with 19 points.
The Voyageurs are back in action Friday night as they travel to Thunder Bay to take on the Lakehead Thunderwolves, tip-off set for 8pm.