LONDON, Ont. - "It's never linear, right? It's always full of ups and downs."Â
That was Golden Hawks Manager of men's basketball operations and head coach Justin Serresse on Wednesday, after his team overcame an early deficit to defeat the York Lions in the first round of the OUA playoffs.Â
"It's always full of anxiety and doubts. Great moments and tough moments."Â
That's what makes this moment so tough to swallow. Because this was a season full of great moments for Laurier: one of the wildest comebacks you'll ever see against Brock, a climb to #4 in the U SPORTS top 10, a win over the conference juggernauts for the first time in almost three decades.Â
And yet, it comes to an end in the same round as the past two seasons – the OUA quarterfinals – and on the court of the Golden Hawks' biggest rivals. Â
An injury-addled and flu-ridden Laurier team put up a valiant effort on Saturday afternoon on the road against the Western Mustangs. An impressive third quarter offered some hope that a patented purple and gold comeback might be in the cards, but in the end, it was the ponies pulling away with a 92-72 victory.Â
[We were] slowly chipping away, chipping away," said Serresse. "We just didn't have enough in the tank, and not enough rotation wise. And I mean, it is a part of the game."Â
Injuries have unfortunately dominated the latter chapters of what's otherwise been a storybook year for Laurier. Veteran guard DeAndre Pierre remained out of the lineup in this game, and the Golden Hawks lost another key contributor when Ethan Passley left the game early in the second quarter.Â
Even still, the Golden Hawks fought hard against a Mustangs team that ranked #8 in U SPORTS and rode a five-game win streak coming into this match-up.Â
Laurier struggled shooting the ball in the first half, going 11-32 from the field, including 2-16 from three-point range. They also made a few costly mistakes with the ball, as Western was able to turn their eight turnovers into 11 points the other way.Â
Trailing 44-29 at halftime, Serresse was looking for a wake-up call for a mostly dormant offence. He found it in "old stuff from, like, way back."Â
"I asked [Benhur Gebrekidan], you remember this play? I told him we're only running three plays in the third quarter, we ain't running nothing else. This is one, this is two, this is three. If one works, you keep running it. Two, if it doesn't work anymore. And we got a great run."Â
They continued to eat into the Mustangs' lead, and a five-point sequence from Taye Donald cut the deficit to five.Â
Western responded with a run of their own, and pushed their lead back to 63-56 heading into the final frame. Aryan Sharma set the tone with two quick three pointers in the first minute of play, and from there the Mustangs were able to control the pace the rest of the way.Â
Western's success in this game was driven, as it has been all season, by their backcourt. Sharma finished with game highs in points (34) and rebounds (eight), while Tyson Dunn had a season-high 13 assists and added 19 points and four steals.Â
"Everything we put in place the past couple of years in terms of trying to pick up at the right time – rest wise, nutrition wise, recovery, all of that stuff – we did it, and it didn't really show. That's when you start scratching your head like, what's going on?" Â
"I thought this roster at full strength had everything. But we were never able to have everybody at full strength, not even for a week," continued Serresse, "so we never saw the full potential of this team."Â
"I think we did a great job, but I felt like we could have learned a few lessons a little bit quicker, so that we could have found ourselves in this situation more prepared. Guys that were in and out of the lineup would have been able to contribute even more than we did today."Â
"I wish Ethan and Dre a speedy recovery," he said, "and I hope everybody else kind of learns from that experience."Â
"If we come back being able to learn from those experiences, especially the young guys that played a little bit this year, it will be great next year. So again, we've got a lot of work to do."Â
BY THE NUMBERSÂ
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Calling it a 'flu game' is a little bit cliche, but it might be the only descriptor worthy of Taye Donald's performance today. Despite suffering from an illness, Donald never took a play off in his team-leading 37 minutes of play.Â
Donald led the team in points (20) and assists (seven), was effective on the defensive end, and made more than a few hustle plays you wouldn't expect from most players fully healthy, diving for loose balls and consistently putting his body on the line.Â
Donald established himself as a superstar in the OUA this season, and Serresse is hopeful he'll hear his name called in the CEBL draft this spring.Â
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Second, third, and fourth in scoring for Laurier were Benhur Gebrekidan (12 points), Vladimir Lukomski (nine points), and Majok Deng (eight points). Â
For all three seniors, today was their last game in a Golden Hawks jersey. Serresse has talked at length about the value they've each brought to the program over their five years at Laurier, and their work ethic, determination, and strong two-way play were on display in this game.Â
