TORONTO, Ont. - After building big leads in the first and third quarters before fighting off a late-game comeback attempt by the Gryphons Friday night, the Golden Hawks found themselves on the other end of an eerily similar game Saturday.
This time, it was Laurier's fourth quarter heroics which weren't enough to earn the win on the road against the Varsity Blues. The final score was 67-59 for Toronto.
After two quick three-pointers from Justin Malnerich gave the Golden Hawks an early lead, the Varsity Blues began to build momentum. They took their first lead of the game at 6:31 in the first quarter and would not give it up until late in the fourth.
Toronto outscored Laurier 22-8 in the opening frame, thanks in large part to their nine second-chance points coming off of five offensive rebounds. The Golden Hawks also struggled to penetrate the Blues' strong zone defence, forcing them to settle for low-percentage shots. Laurier made only three of their 11 attempts from the field in the first.
In the second quarter, the Golden Hawks quite literally flipped the script, outscoring the Blues 21-8 and holding them to just three makes out of eighteen field-goal attempts. Leading the charge offensively was Malnerich.
The third quarter saw Toronto take back control of the game, thanks once again to their dominance on the glass. The Varsity Blues grabbed 13 boards to the Golden Hawks' two in the third quarter. They outrebounded Laurier 51-41 throughout the game.
Like Guelph did to them the night before, Laurier came charging back in the fourth quarter. They entered the final frame down 56-41, but a 9-0 run cut the lead down to six just over two minutes in.
Combining for 14 of the Laurier's 18 fourth quarter points were Jahmyah Brown Jeffers and Ethan Passley, who finished the game with 17 points, marking the third time this season he's led the team in scoring.
The Golden Hawks took their first and only lead since the first quarter with two and a half minutes remaining on a layup from Taye Donald, but Toronto shut them down from there, keeping Laurier from scoring while adding nine points of their own at the other end to put the game away.
When asked what was behind the team's offensive struggles, Coach Serresse had a straightforward answer; "lack of execution."
"We made it more complicated than it should have been," he continued. "Their zone [defence] is good. They know what they're doing, they understand their rotation... but we also didn't execute what we were trying to do."
Serresse hoped to see more involvement and assertiveness from the team's bigs and more confidence and composure from the ball handlers moving forward. On the other side of the ball, he was impressed with how his team competed down the stretch.
"We didn't match their intensity in the first quarter. Definitely the second quarter was better and then the second half was better overall... I'm hoping that we can shine the next week."
With the loss, the Golden Hawks fall to an even 2-2 on the season, while the Varsity Blues improve to 3-1.
TOP PERFORMERS
Laurier Golden Hawks
Taye Donald's stats may not jump off the page (six points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals), but he led the Golden Hawks with 35 minutes played for good reason. He was arguably the team's most consistent player defensively and came up with some clutch plays on both ends of the court.
Toronto Varsity Blues
Another strong two-way performance belonged to Toronto's Lennart Weber. The second-year forward – an international student-athlete from Germany – led the team in both points (16) and rebounds (10).
UP NEXT
The purple and gold will be back home Wednesday, November 16 when they'll take on the Guelph Gryphons at 8 p.m. at the Athletic Complex. Tickets are on sale now.
