LONDON, Ont. - After Friday's two-point victory over the rival Waterloo Warriors, it was hard to imagine a more exciting game this season for the Golden Hawks. Tonight's matchup against Western, however, was an absolute classic. Despite trailing for nearly the entire game, Laurier was able to claw back on the road and earn an 82-81 win.
The win extended the Golden Hawks' win streak to five games, as they improved to 7-4 on the season.
It was another tough first quarter for the purple and gold, as they made only five of their 19 attempted field goals in the opening frame, including just two of nine shots from three-point range. The Mustangs held a commanding 22-13 lead after ten minutes, led by second-year guard Jerric Palma's 12 first-quarter points.
Laurier was able to recover some ground in the second quarter, with Ottawa native
Ali Sow leading the charge offensively. He had 17 points on 6 of 8 shooting and would finish with a season-high 36. Western's lead was cut to just 41-37 at halftime.
The Mustangs' Omar Shiddo is the only player ahead of Sow on the OUA's scoring leaderboard.
KJ Massela had the nearly impossible task of slowing him down and was able to hold him to just four points in the first half.
"(Massela) is one of the best defenders in our division for sure," said Manager of Basketball Operations & Head Coach
Justin Serresse after the game. "That was quite amazing for him to be able to make [Shiddo] work for everything."
After a third quarter which saw Laurier shrink the lead even further to 56-54, the stage was set for an exciting fourth. The Western crowd was on its feet for nearly the entire frame, which saw the lead change hands nine times.
Though Massela and the Golden Hawks did their best to contain him, Shiddo still managed to score 19 points in the fourth quarter alone, nearly single-handedly putting an end to Laurier's comeback efforts. Thankfully for the Golden Hawks, Sow was up to the task.
The game wasn't decided, however, until the final seconds, with
Majok Deng providing the game-winner off an inbounds play.
"This one feels good," said Coach Serresse. "The last game we had here was a heartbreaker." He was referring, of course, to Laurier's 2020 OUA semi-final at Western, which ended in a 104-103 overtime loss.
"I don't think that this one makes up for it ... but at least we feel like we got something back."
With both teams holding down playoff spots less than a month before the post-season begins, it looks like the Golden Hawks may get their chance to take it all back and more this March.
Top Performers
Golden Hawks
G -
Ali Sow
Sow's 36 points gave him five games of at least 30 points this season. He also had seven assists and played excellent clutch defence late in the fourth quarter.
Mustangs
G - Omar Shiddo
Shiddo finished the game with 30 points. He also had a game-high nine rebounds.
Up Next
The Golden Hawks will host the Mustangs at the Athletic Complex for the second leg of this week's home-and-home Saturday at 3 PM. Tickets are available now at
tickets.laurierathletics.com.
The action will also be streamed live on OUA.tv.
