MBB | Varsity Blues Slip Past Voyageurs

Saturday night was the second of a back to back for the Laurentian Voyageurs as they hosted the 6-1 Toronto Varsity Blues, a game in which they came up short in the end, losing 82-70.

The game started with both teams locking horns, exchanging scores and stops, and, although the Varsity Blues came into the game as heavy favourites, Laurentian showed in the first 10 minutes that they were not going to give U of T an inch. The Voyageurs would trail 22-18 after the first, with some key missed chances late in the quarter to force them to play catch up for the second quarter.

In the second, Laurentian continued to make life difficult for the Varsity Blues with stingy defense, limiting Toronto from making any serious run to pull away. Laurentian forced four turnovers and hit a trio of three point makes, losing the quarter by just one and trailing at the break by only five with a score of 42-37; well within striking distance of an upset win.

As both teams came out for the second half, it was again the high tempo defence of Laurentian that continued to keep the pressure on the Varsity Blues. Picking up three steals in the third, along as well as a number of charges taken, they continued to frustrate the Toronto offense. Going into the fourth Laurentian was still right there down only six, 60-54.

However, the Voyageurs just could not come up with a game winning run in the fourth quarter. The biggest downfall, it turned out, was the rebounding. Toronto was able to out-rebound Laurentian 48-35 throughout the game, including 15 of those being offensive rebounds, allowing Toronto to rack up the second chance points. In the end, Toronto improved to 7-1 on the year, defeating the Voyageurs by a score of 82-70

Tonight's key performances came from Caillou Lacroix who picked up a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while dishing out five assists, and Abdulmajid Hassan who also had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds along with seven assists and taking 3 charges along the way.

The Voyageurs play again next weekend as they face off against Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier at home for their final games before the Christmas break.

Andrew Lemieux