MBB | Voyageurs Pick Up First Home Win of the Season
Friday night saw the Laurentian Voyageurs men's basketball team face off against the 0-6 Waterloo Warriors in their penultimate game before the Christmas break where they would pick up their first home victory of the season, 61-58.
The first quarter started as a defensive stalemate with both sides limiting their opponents to difficult looks and, at times, poor shots in the first ten minutes. This was proven through the incredible stat that not a single 3-point shot was made in the quarter by either side even though there were nine attempts between them. This meant the low scoring first quarter ended tied at 10.
In the second, the basket opened up for Laurentian as they put up a game high 26 points in a single quarter. This was aided by the massively improved 45% 3 point shooting, going 5-11 from beyond the arc. The team also picked up much needed points at the free throw line when the opportunity was given, going 100% from the foul line in the quarter. This gave the Voyageurs a healthy 36-29 lead at the break.
Defensive stops once again came up clutch for the Voyageurs in the third quarter, as they limited their opponents to a lowly 10 points through outstanding defensive rotations, timely shot clock violations and a respectable four steals. This extended the Laurentian lead to double digits (49-39) going into the fourth.
Some might have thought that the double-digit lead would have been enough to see the game through but Waterloo had some late fight left in them, as they were able to bring it to within a one score lead, late. Once again, however, it was the Voyageurs defense, highlighted by a timely late steal from Cedric Mbiaba, which carried them to their first home win of the season 61-58.
Key performers included Mbiaba who had 21 points 14 rebounds and 4 steals in the game along with Caillou Lacroix with 19 points and Gaetan Chamand who put up 8 points and logged 30 minutes of game time in his return from an ankle injury.
Laurentian goes again Saturday night as they host the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks in their final game before Christmas at the Ben Avery Gym.
Andrew Lemieux