WATERLOO, Ont. - The #6 Golden Hawks fought their way back into the win column at home on Friday night, snapping their three-game skid with an 83-70 victory over Windsor.
Unfortunately, they had to do it without their two leading scorers. Taye Donald, who left last Saturday's game with an injury, remained sidelined for this matchup. Laurier then lost veteran guard DeAndrae Pierre early in the fourth quarter.
Pierre's exit seemed to light a fire under a Golden Hawks team that played below their usually elite level for most of the contest, as they completely shut down the Lancers the rest of the way.
"In a short amount of time, Dre had such a big impact on the guys. You can see how emotional everybody was. He's a kid that everybody loves, everybody kind of gravitated around him as the big brother. Having him go down today on an unknown injury, it's always very scary for us," said Manager of men's basketball operations and head coach Justin Serresse.
"We talk about it all the time, having that family, that family demeanor, picking our brother up if he's down, I think we just kept that mentality throughout the game," said third-year guard Ethan Passley. "We've just got to stick together as a family on the court and just do what we do best and play our game."
"It shows how much love they have for their brother," said Serresse. "But at the same time, we did tell them, we can't wait for stuff like that to happen to realize how much we have to play as a team, the energy that we need to have from the bench to coaches to players."
There were some bright spots for Laurier early. Passley was a catalyst offensively with seven points in the game's first four minutes, while Dylan Brooks and Maxwell Voorpool each looked comfortable shouldering a tougher workload than they've seen through most of the season.
There were also some dark points. Windsor was the more aggressive team on the glass, and pulled down five offensive rebounds in the first quarter alone. Meanwhile, miscommunication on defence led to some easy points for the Lancers.
Trailing 35-34 at halftime, the Golden Hawks tightened up in the third quarter, with the rookie Voorpool a leader on both ends.
"I trust Max," said Serresse, dubbing him a "mosquito" on defence. "He should be annoying defensively; absorbing contact, taking charges, being active, being super quick."
On the other end, Voorpool plays much bigger than his 5-10 frame. "He's a fearless type of kid who has deep range and is capable of just being an X-factor offensively with the utmost confidence and the utmost swagger."
The scoreboard read 56-56 heading into the final frame, and hadn't changed before Pierre's injury. Benhur Gebrekidan hit a three off the following inbound, sparking a 16-4 Laurier run that put the game out of reach.
Naturally, it was Passley who stepped up to fill the void as the primary scorer and ball-carrier, and he delivered with likely his best game of the season.
"I've always had that confidence. I just knew I had to do more than what I usually do with those guys out, because those guys are big pieces. They got us to where we are right now, so I have to show that respect, to carry my own weight," he said.
"Sometimes Ethan needs to be reminded of who he is and what his strength is," said Serresse. "Sometimes he just plays to play, it's random, he doesn't really have a game plan. It's like he's in streetball, which is a gift, but a curse when you just need to sometimes simplify the game."
"If you're a quick guy, show your speed. If you're great at getting to certain spots on the court, get to those spots." Passley showed his speed and got to his spots in this one, scoring many of his points on the pull-up mid-range jumpers he's become known for.
With the win, the Golden Hawks improve to 14-5 on the season and remain atop the OUA West division standings. This will be the best regular season anybody on the current roster has been a part of, and the team has every intention to translate that into playoff success.
To be clear, a trip to the U SPORTS Final 8 is well within reach for this team.
"We know what time it is," said Passley. "Everybody's being professional about it. Everybody's working day in and day out to just make sure that we're on point with everything we need to do, whether it's practice, whether it's working out, whether it's film.
"Everybody's sticking together knowing our goal, everybody's keeping their head on straight and just listening to the big dog over there so we can get the job done."
As for what the "big dog" thinks it will take to achieve that goal:
"We've got to get back healthy," said Serresse, "and from there we go out there and get the job done."
BY THE NUMBERS
28
Passley's 28 points were both the game-high total and a new season-high for the Kitchener native. He also had a team-high three assists and six rebounds.
100%
Nana Boateng was another key contributor for the purple and gold, scoring 10 points on perfect 4-4 shooting from the field. He also led the team in rebounds (nine) and steals (three).
18
Leading the game in scoring at halftime with 18 points was Windsor's Yohann Sam. Laurier shut down the second-year forward in the second half, holding him to just two points.
UP NEXT
The Golden Hawks are back in action on Saturday for Embrace Your Culture night. Tip-off against the York Lions is set for 8 p.m. at the Athletic Complex.
