WATERLOO, Ont. -- After Wednesday's 103-72 win over Western, Laurier looked primed to make a deep run in this year's Wilson Cup playoffs. Unfortunately, the road to the OUA finals went through the U Sports #5-ranked Brock Badgers, whose stifling defense earned them an 82-58 victory over the visiting Golden Hawks.
The loss in today's OUA West semifinal means the purple and gold's season has come to an end. It was a back-and-forth first quarter, with both teams playing strong defensively.
The Badgers were the highest-scoring team in all of U Sports this season, and the Golden Hawks' overall defensive effort this afternoon was impressive, despite the loss.
"They made four threes (in garbage time), but if it wasn't for that, our goal was to keep them in the low 70s and we were right there," said Manager of Basketball Operations & Head Coach
Justin Serresse after the game.
Tied at 12-12 with just under three minutes to play in the opening frame, Brock began to pull away, finishing the quarter on a 9-2 run to make the score 21-14.
They followed up in the second quarter with an early 10-0 run to put some distance between them and Laurier.
Arguably, it was Brock's defence which was the biggest factor, with 21 of the Badgers' first-half points coming off Laurier turnovers.
Trailing 43-26 at halftime, Laurier was in need of a big third quarter, but was still unable to get past Brock's defenders.
The Badgers seemed to be taking away nearly every lane to the hoop, forcing the Golden Hawks to take low-percentage jump shots from outside the paint, or take their chances against the strong interior defence.
Laurier was one of the most efficient teams in the OUA this season, but shot just 31.1% from the field this afternoon. Brock led 58-38 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Golden Hawks, though, have made several impressive fourth-quarter comebacks this season, and seemed to be gaining some momentum early in the final frame.
The Badgers deserved credit for staying calm in the face of Laurier's relentless pressure, keeping turnovers to a minimum and making the most of their scoring opportunities.
Despite playing their best quarter offensively, the Golden Hawks were unable to cut into the lead with Brock matching them bucket-for-bucket.
Saturday was the last time Laurier fans saw
Ali Sow,
Romello Taylor,
Ben Stevens,
Kareem Elliott,
Adnan Begovic, and
Josh Stephens in a Golden Hawks uniform. And while this is certainly not the way anyone wanted the season to end, Coach Serresse was happy with the effort his team showed in the final minutes.
"We're usually a team that is pretty resilient, even when we don't play well... we just don't stop. The game's not over, keep playing, and play as hard as you can." said Serresse.
"I'm happy about that, for sure. Especially because that was the last game for a lot of guys together. You want to leave feeling like you didn't give up on your brothers."
Top Performers
Golden Hawks
Despite being tightly defended all game,
Ali Sow still had a game-high 22 points as well as a team-leading five assists. The second-highest scoring player in Golden Hawks history was everywhere in the fourth quarter, creating scoring opportunities out of nothing, as we've seen him do throughout his career.
Badgers
Despite scoring only ten points, the OUA's third-leading scorer Tajinder Lall still stood out for the Badgers, recording nine rebounds and a game-high seven assists.
