TORONTO, Ont. – The Golden Hawks started the first leg of their season-opening road trip with a visit to the York Lions. Despite a slow start, the Golden Hawks turned the tides in the fourth quarter, winning 57-46.
"We didn't have the best shot selection in the first half, and we also didn't finish strong on the inside," Laurier's interim manager of men's basketball operations and head coach Cavell Johnson said.
It was a low-scoring affair to start the night for both teams combining for 26 points. Third-year guard Jalen Levene led the Golden Hawks with four points off the bench in the opening ten minutes.
Levene played a key role in keeping the purple and gold within reach, first on the heavily contested deep two-pointer tying the score at seven, and again as the clock hit 1:43 shaking off the Lions defender with the spin move, knocking down the jumper.
The Golden Hawks' offensive woes continued into the second quarter, only putting up ten points on 3-13 shooting.
U SPORTS All-Canadian Taye Donald was limited to one point in the opening frame but started to turn on the heat late in the second. With the shot clock winding down, Donald split the defenders, banked the ball off the backboard passing it to himself, and finished with the slam.
At the half, the Golden Hawks were down by only four points at 27-23.
"The message at halftime was that we needed to value our possessions. If we were going to string together consecutive stops, we had to be able to put ourselves in the best position to convert on the offensive end of the floor," Johnson said.
The third quarter began again on a sour note for both sides going three minutes without a basket. York's Malakai Ayres-Olson broke the stalemate eventually to put his side up 29-23.
But great defence leads to offence, and Terell Lloyd got the steal party started for the Golden Hawks, stripping K'Shawn Latty at half-court and finishing with the dunk.
On York's very next possession, Donald reached in knocking the ball loose and completed the sequence on a layup assisted by Chidera Ubosi, closing the gap to two points.
After York regained their six point lead, Joshua Loblaw fed Levene who sank the corner three, swinging momentum back the Golden Hawks' way.
"Jalen didn't find a solid rhythm in the first half, but continued to play his game," Johnson said. "He continued to shoot the ball with confidence, and hit some big shots when we needed them."
Levene ended his night with ten points, one assist, and five boards.
Matei Vucenovic evened the score at 34 before Elias Panagiotopolos and Donald went shot-for-shot to close the penultimate quarter. York got the last laugh taking a 38-37 lead into the final ten minutes.
At 8:17 in the fourth quarter, Lloyd hit from beyond the arc, bringing York's lead down to one once again.
Fisher regained the lead for the Golden Hawks, and with six minutes remaining, Laurier did not look back. Lloyd drew in the zone defence leaving Levene with a favourable matchup as York's Nate Makolo left Levene enough space to set up and collect his second three-pointer of the night. The Golden Hawks started to distance themselves, going up 47-43.
Donald's ability to anticipate York's passes put a dent in the Lions' morale all night long, but none more than at 4:54 where Donald broke up the errant pass, laying in the easy two. He had four of Laurier's ten steals in the game.
The Golden Hawks strung together a 16-point run before Aidan Whalen put the nail in the coffin. Laurier's offence caught fire in the fourth quarter, putting 20 points on the board, while their defence made timely stops to hold York to only eight points, making the Lions wait another day to earn their stripes.
"We did a good job of turning the ball over, speeding York up," Johnson said. "When you control a game defensively first, that leads to good confidence and good flow on the offensive end of the floor."
"[In the fourth quarter] the guys did a good job at valuing the possession after the steal, or after the turnover, or after the defensive stop. They did a really good job at playing with intention."
The win not only marks Laurier's first win of the season but Johnson's first with the program. While he said it felt great to start the year on the right foot, Johnson said for him "It means nothing because we have a lot more to go."
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Up Next
The Golden Hawks wrap up their road trip with a stop in Hamilton, Ont., to face the McMaster Marauders. The teams previously met two weeks ago at the Concordia Classic Tournament where the Hawks fell 87-78.
"We're going into what I like to call a hostile environment. [McMaster] takes pride in protecting their home court. We have to come in and deliver the first punch."
"We want to control the boards against them. We want to keep them to one-shot possessions, cleaning up the boards and getting ourselves out to attack, and create in transition and space."
Tipoff is set for 3 pm on Sunday. Catch all the action live at OUA.tv.
