The Brock men’s basketball team took on the University of Windsor Lancers and Western University Mustangs this weekend on Feb. 10 and 11.
Heading into the matchup against Windsor, the Badgers sat at the top of the OUA with a 15-3 record and 0.833 win percentage. Windsor wasn’t far behind with a great record of their own at 13-5. The Badgers were in for a tough matchup as Windsor was looking to secure first in the OUA west division.
The first quarter was back and forth as both teams spaced the floor well on offence, taking the smart shots and not forcing anything. Brock’s Isiah Bujdoso continued to dominate like he has all season, scoring back-to-back buckets to give the Badgers the largest lead of the quarter. But just a few possessions later, the game was all tied up at 19 heading into the second quarter.
Badgers Jevon Brown also had a great first quarter, which he continued into the second scoring the first bucket out of the break. The Badgers continued to battle hard on both sides of the floor but the Lancers offence started to catch fire.
Lancer player Thomas Kennedy was nearly unstoppable, scoring 16 points in the first half on 7-11 shooting and also adding two blocks. Kennedy’s strong play mixed with the support by six of his other teammates who made at least two buckets in the first half gave the Lancers a seven-point lead heading into the second half.
The Badgers were going to have to improve their shooting percentage in the second half if they wanted to make a comeback, shooting just 34.1 per cent in the first half compared to the Lancers 50 per cent.
Unfortunately, the Badgers were unable to find a rhythm coming out for the third quarter, leading to a huge run from the Lancers. This time on the back of Najee Brown-Henderson who managed 8 points on their 13-2 run in the quarter. The Badgers trailed 74-48 at the end of the third quarter due to abysmal defence and poor three-point shooting.
Though this Badgers team is not ranked first in the OUA for nothing as they came out hot in the fourth quarter. The Badger went on a 11-0 run in the first three minutes of the quarter to bring the game back within 15 points.
Two free throws made by the Windsor guard ended the run but that did not discourage the Badgers as they made it 76-65 with just under five minutes to play in the game. A timeout was called by the Lancers’ head coach to try and get his team’s playback in order, which it did.
The Lancers came out of the timeout and made three buckets in a row and despite the Badgers doing the same, there would not be enough time left on the clock to make the comeback.
The Badgers fell to the Lancers 88-75 despite out scoring them in the fourth quarter 27-14. They looked to bounce back the next day against the below .500 Western Mustangs.
On Feb. 11 the Badgers took on the Mustangs and the game started in similar fashion to the night before as both teams were scoring at the same pace. The quarter ended 23-21 for the Mustangs but the Badgers were getting production from many of their players with four players having four or more points in the quarter.
The Badgers’ offence remained at the same pace in the second quarter with Western managing a few more buckets, once again outscoring the Badgers, this time 28-20. Western had a 10-point lead heading into the half and coach Willy Maniget was visibly upset with his team after 20 minutes of play.
In the third quarter, Brock came to play on both sides of the floor scoring 23 points and only allowing Western 18 for their lowest-scoring quarter of the game. Brock’s Jevon Brown continued to be a threat on the offensive side of the floor with seven points in the quarter, adding to his four in the first to half.
Brock was back within five to start the final quarter, and just like against Windsor, their offence got hot but so did Western’s. Brock was unable to claw back into the game as they lost 95-91. Their first time losing back-to-back all season.
Despite the loss, Brock’s Daniel Caldwell managed to drop 23 points, seven assists and seven rebounds. Jevon Brown also had a strong game with 19 points, five rebounds, three steals, two assists and one block.
The Badgers are back in action next weekend Feb. 17 and 18 for a home and home against TMU, their final two games of the regular season. Tickets for the Feb. 17 game at the Bob Davis Gymnasium can be found here and for all other information on the Brock Badgers visit gobadgers.ca.
