WATERLOO, Ont. - The Golden Hawks hosted the Laurentian Voyageurs in the first game of their weekend set. Laurentian came into the game with a 1-3 record, their lone win coming against the #9-ranked Carleton Ravens, while the Golden Hawks looked to stay perfect.
It was a hot start for the Golden Hawks, and fourth-year guard Joshua Loblaw got the purple and gold on the board first as he found the lane and drove to the rim for two points. He had a team leading six points in the opening frame.
The Golden Hawks went on to shoot 50% from the field and 25% from three, while limiting Laurentian to 4-17 from the floor, leading 20-14 after 10-minutes of play.
It went from good to great in the second quarter for the home side, dominating the Voyageurs 22-9. The defense was rocking as Laurentian only had four players impacting the scoring front and held the Voyageurs to 1-13 from the field.
At 7:22, rookie Julien Binzangi denied the layup attempt and sent Ethan Passley the other way where he easily put in two points. Later, Passley came away with the steal and uncontested lay in. Passley went 3-5 for six points in the second quarter.
The Golden Hawks led 42-23 at the break.
"We played within our offensive and defensive principles," manager of men's basketball operations and head coach Cavell Johnson said.
"We had a really sharp edge on the defensive end of the floor, and we let it carry over to the way that we attacked on the offensive end. We attacked in space, gave each other space, and we were very dynamic."
Quickly, however, the Voyageurs turned the tides. In the third quarter, Laurentian outshot the Golden Hawks 19-10 on 7-15 shooting, but Laurier kept their 10-point lead at 52-42.
In the fourth, a Laurier turnover sent the Voyageurs the other way and cashed in with three points, taking the lead 61-60. Laurentian would go on a 10-0 run before the Golden Hawks would score again.
The Voyageurs put up a massive 28-point fourth quarter to hand the Golden Hawks their first loss of the season, 70-63.
"Big credit to Laurentian for responding," Johnson said. "We didn't take the punch to the face well. We got away from being aggressive on the defensive end, and playing together on both ends."
