MBB | Voyageurs Come Up Just Short Against Lions
Saturday night saw the Laurentian Voyageurs men's basketball team take on the York Lions, suffering another tough loss with a final score of 78-75.
York took control of the game early, dominating Laurentian underneath the basket on both ends of the floor and, on many occasions, it led to lots of prime scoring opportunities for the Lions. The Lions took advantage of these opportunities, shooting 56% from the field in the quarter and building a very sizable lead, 27-17, by the end of the quarter.
From then on, though, Laurentian tightened things up, especially defensively, and, in the second quarter, began their best efforts at coming back. The second was a very scrappy affair and both teams began finding it difficult to take a real foothold in the game. Laurentian, in the end, outscored their opponent in the quarter 23-22 through an outstanding ability to get to the free throw line. Their nine makes on 14 attempts in the second helped closed the gap but the Voyageurs still saw themselves down 49-43.
As the teams returned to the floor for the second half, Laurentian continued to chip away at the York lead and tightened up their defense to begin to shift momentum their way. A low scoring third quarter saw Laurentian convert 7-14 attempted field goals while limiting the Lions to just 33% from the field and, by the end of the 3rd, Laurentian was within striking distance, down just 6, 65-59.
The fourth quarter was the best Laurentian had played all game. After allowing York to start the fourth on an 11-5 run, the defense came up big down the stretch. Laurentian began a 9-0 run of their own over the span of several minutes, cutting the York lead to as low as one by the final minute of the game. However, a layup made with 32 seconds left put the Lions back up by three and the Voyageurs could not answer in the dying seconds, suffering another heartbreaking loss, 78-75, on the road.
The game's standout performers from Laurentian were Abdulmajid Hassan, who had a season high 23 points and made 9-12 free throws, along with Kamil Dia Hantchi, who picked up his first double-double on the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Laurentian comes back home to face a tough Lakehead Thunderwolves team Friday night at the Ben Avery Gym at 8pm.
Andrew Lemieux