While Wednesday's loss may have put an end to the winning streak, the Golden Hawks are still playing excellent basketball with the playoffs less than two weeks away. On Friday, they beat their potential first-round opponent Guelph Gryphons 100-82, in a win where there seemed to be few weaknesses in their game.
After Wednesday saw Guelph take advantage of another slow start by Laurier, the Golden Hawks showed much more energy and poise on both sides of the ball to start tonight's game. Not only did they shoot well in the first quarter, hitting 5 of 9 three-point attempts, they also managed to generate ten points off eight Gryphons turnovers.
A Keenan Dowell buzzer-beating three cut the Laurier lead to 24-18 heading into the second quarter, and an early run by Guelph made it seem like the score would be close at halftime. Laurier was able to gain some separation thanks to
Romello Taylor, who had 14 points in the quarter. The score was 48-37 at the break.
While Guelph received good production from Dowell and Rasheed Weeks (13 and 12 first-half points, respectively), the Golden Hawks did an excellent job of shutting down their top scorer, Malcom Glanville, who was held without a point in the first half.
"He's a sleek player and puts relentless pressure on your defenders," said Manager of Basketball Operations and Head Coach
Justin Serresse after the game. "You just have to make him give up a few [possessions], and I thought we did that well."
The OUA's sixth-highest leading scorer couldn't be contained forever though, as Glanville responded with 14 points in the third quarter. The rest of the Gryphons were held to just six though, and Laurier was able to grow their lead to 73-57 heading into the final frame.
With the game mostly out of reach, Guelph struggled to slow down the Golden Hawks offence, which was looking as dangerous as we've seen it so far this season. Taylor was the standout, finishing with 29 points, just two shy of the career-high he set in Saturday's win over Western.
While this was yet another game in what has been an incredible second half of the season for Taylor, he had more than enough help filling the scoresheet tonight, with
Ali Sow,
Benhur Gebrekidan, and
Ben Stevens, all reaching double-digits as well. Sow also had game-high totals in rebounds (nine) and assists (six).
With just two games remaining in the regular season, this was a crucial win for Laurier, who remains in third place in the OUA West. Next week, they face the McMaster Marauders in a home-and-home series which will decide which of the two teams receives a first-round bye.
When asked what he hopes his players are focused on heading into the matchup, Coach Serresse responded, "not putting pressure on themselves."
"We used to be done much earlier in the second term, now it's almost like a first-term type of schedule where you're getting close to exams and you still haven't finished your season, and you can tell that the guys are just busy.
"And then you add another element to it with Seniors Night, and there's a lot of distraction, so I want us to stay focused on the task at hand."
Top Performers
Golden Hawks
G -
Romello Taylor
Taylor shot an impressive 12 of 20 from the field tonight. He's now up to 16.6 points per game and 3.7 assists per game this season, good for 14th and 13th best in the OUA, respectively.
Gryphons
G - Keenan Dowell
Dowell finished with 15 points on 4 of 7 shooting. He also led his team in rebounds, with eight.
Up Next
The Golden Hawks will be back at home Wednesday at 8 PM to take on McMaster for Seniors Night.
Tickets are on sale at tickets.laurierathletics.com and you can watch the action live at OUA.tv
