MBB | Voyageurs Dominate Warriors in Final Home Game of 2024
On the back of a tough trip to southern Ontartio last weekend the Laurentian Voyageurs men's basketball team welcomed the Waterloo Warriors to Sudbury, Saturday night for the Voyageurs final home game of 2024.
The Warriors would come into Saturday night's game at a respectable 5-5 having beaten the Nipissing Lakers the previous night. For the Voyageurs they go into this game looking to end their final home game of 2024 with a win to put themselves back above .500 on the season.
Right from the start neither side was able to make many key shots as for the first 5 minutes of the first quarter the score sat at 8-4 Laurentian. From there though it became complete domination as Waterloo would not add another point after the 6:41 mark of the first. Laurentian ended the quarter on a 12-0 run taking a commanding 18-4 lead into the second quarter.
The second was more of the same as the defensive intensity put on by the Voyageurs continued to put the Warriors off all throughout the first half. On the offensive side of the ball Laurentian came up with 5 offensive rebounds in the second leading to multiple second chance scores. Laurentian would end up building on their first quarter lead as they would go into the halftime break up 20 with the score at 35-15.
The second half seemed more of a formality than anything. Laurentian's defense continued to play strong and aggressive. After a third quarter that saw Laurentian's lead extended to 22 the Voyageurs once again held Waterloo to just 4 total points in the fourth quarter leading to a dominating 72-34 win. The dominant performance was highlighted by Laurentian's near perfect defensive performance, holding their opponents to just 24% shooting over the course of the game and just 2-25 from three point range while also forcing 17 turnovers.
Laurentian's performer of the night was Nginyu Ngala who put up a game high 24 points while also pitching in with 3 rebounds, 1 assists and 1 steal playing a total of 24 minutes in the win.
The Voyageurs end 2024 with a road game against rival Nipissing Lakers in North Bay Wednesday night with tip-off scheduled for 8pm.
- Andrew Lemieux