WATERLOO, Ont. - For three weeks, everything was going right for the Golden Hawks.
They'd won six straight to claim first place in the OUA West. Taye Donald was playing at an MVP level. Nana Boateng and Isaiah Fisher were enjoying breakout seasons. Veteran transfer DeAndrae Pierre was providing just what the team needed as a second scoring option.
These are trends that are likely to continue as the OUA campaign moves forward, but on Saturday, it was very easy to forget all of that.
After defeating Guelph with what was arguably their best performance yet on Wednesday night, Laurier was eviscerated by the Gryphons at home, though a late comeback push brought the score to a deceptively close 96-87.
The game began with some good news, as third-year guard Ethan Passley made his return from an injury suffered in the season opener. He'd score a team-high 16 points to go with six rebounds and two assists in his first game back.
Boateng was another bright spot for the Golden Hawks. The third-year forward scored a career-high 15 points, which along with his game-high 13 rebounds gave him his first career double-double.
Other than that, there aren't many positives to take away from this one.
The problems were apparent early. Laurier shot just 6-19 from the field in the first quarter, including a discouraging 1-8 from three-point range. On the other end, Guelph was able to penetrate effectively and often, racking up 20 points in the paint in the opening frame. Meanwhile, the Gryphons outrebounded the Golden Hawks 12-6. The score was 26-17 after one.
Laurier stayed sold in the second quarter, with the three-ball still refusing to fall. They shot 2-8 from beyond the arc in the second, but were able to keep the lead from growing. Still, they trailed 51-42 at halftime.
The purple and gold began the third quarter with a measure more of defensive intensity, but it didn't matter. Guelph shot 10-14 from the field, including 5-8 from three-point range. Laurier did manage to force six turnovers, but couldn't convert on offence, with only three points coming off possession changes.
Down 79-63 heading into the final frame, the Golden Hawks began to look a little more like the team we've seen so far this season. They locked the Gryphons down, holding them to 2-14 from the field, but it was their own that let them down again.
DeAndrae Pierre proved himself in the clutch, hitting two big three-pointers to cut the lead late, but it wasn't enough.
It was a physical game, with Donald, Vladimir Lukomski, and Passley all fouling out for Laurier. Tensions bubbled over after the final buzzer as the handshake line evolved into a minor scuffle, but cooler heads prevailed and no players were injured.
Manager of men's basketball operations and head coach Justin Serresse is hoping to see a better performance from his team moving forward, but isn't about to overreact to one game in what's been an overall encouraging start to the season.
"I'm very process driven... I don't like to operate out of emotion," he said. "[Guelph] played very well offensively and they gave us a lot of trouble. We've got to talk about the elephant in the room, how are we going to stop teams from doing what Guelph did to us?"
"It's not us. It's not in our DNA. We have to be consistently great on defense and then let our offense flow. So that's more you know what we need to be focusing on, especially when teams are coming at us with a lot of chirping and confidence."
Another area that needs addressing is "being able to figure out how to score when our shots aren't falling," he added. "I think we're still trying to figure that out and hopefully we can figure it out sooner rather than later."
With the loss, the Golden Hawks' six-game winning streak is snapped, and they drop to 6-2 on the season, back into a tie with Western for first place in the OUA West. The Gryphons, meanwhile, improve to 3-5.
BY THE NUMBERS
50%
Overall, Laurier shot an unimpressive 40.5% from the field, including 25.8% from three-point range. The latter is especially damming for a team that likes to shoot the long ball as much as the Golden Hawks.
The most egregious stat from this game, however, is their performance at the free-throw line. They made just half of their foul shots as a team, going 11-22. In what turned out to be a nine-point game, those missed opportunities are costly.
68
Three players combined for 68 of Guelph's 96 points. Emmanuel Ansah was the best player on the court on Saturday, leading his team with 25 points and 12 rebounds while adding three assists and a steal.
Dezayne Mingo followed up his great performance on Wednesday with 22 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, while Viktoras Nausedas contributed 21 points and eight rebounds.
UP NEXT
The Golden Hawks will look to bounce back on Wednesday, November 29 when they travel to Toronto to face the #6 TMU Bold. Taking down the Bold on the road is no easy task, and the Golden Hawks will then have to battle with the OUA Central division leading Brock Badgers at home on Saturday, December 2.
"100%," said Serresse when asked if he views the upcoming week as a measuring stick for his team.
"They're really, really, really good teams... it's up to see up to us to see where we're at without making excuses for ourselves. We've just got to go out there and show everybody else that we're also a team to take extremely seriously. And after today, we've got work to do."
Tip-off on Wednesday is set for 8 p.m. at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. Follow @WLUAthletics for live updates and catch all the action on OUA.tv.
