Varsity Blues fans were not disappointed this weekend as the men’s basketball team delivered nothing but excitement in back-to-back nail-biters. The Laurier Golden Hawks and the Waterloo Warriors visited the Athletic Centre on Friday and Saturday, bringing the Blues a win and a loss respectively.
Almost a year ago, U of T visited Laurier and defeated them 80-67, but this time around the Hawks were well prepared and battled the Blues into overtime. The narrow margin of the Blues’ 92-89 victory shows that it really could have been the other team’s game.
The Blues started off strong and opened the scoring with a basket by Patrick Sewell in the first few seconds of play. However, the Hawks’ ability to work the inside offensively, and their tight defence let the Blues know early on that the scoreboard would balance out. Laurier was narrowly leading 25-24 at the end of the first quarter.
The Hawks soared up 44-39 in the second quarter, although one of the game highlights was Blue Drazen Glisic’s fantastic break and crowd-pleasing lay-up just as the buzzer rang out halftime.
It didn’t take long for the Blues to narrow the gap, and with just over a minute and a half left to go in the third quarter, Rob Paris sunk his fifth three-pointer of the evening, finally giving the home team the advantage. Laurier’s Kale Harrison, however, was not about to lose the lead, and tied the score 62-62 going into the final minutes of play.
With only a few seconds left in the fourth quarter, the game was tied yet again, the scoreboard reading 79-79. Tensions were high and the crowd was on its feet as Nick Magalas went for the tie-breaking point. It bounced off the rim sending the game into overtime, when the Blues stepped it up a notch and won 92-89 causing the stands to erupt in ecstasy.
“Both teams shot the ball really well [and it was] highly entertaining,” said head coach Mike Katz, “I’m glad the fans had an opportunity to witness a great game.”
The Blues, however, did not walk away victorious for a second night in a row as the Waterloo Warriors narrowly overtook them 58-55.
U of T may have won the tip off, but Waterloo racked up 12 consecutive points only five minutes into the game. The Blues quickly bounced back, and by the end of the first quarter they were only down 15-12. The struggle to dominate the scoreboard did not die down and going into halftime, the home team led by a single point at 24-23.
Despite a valiant effort, the Blues narrowly lagged behind the Warriors 43-38 entering the final quarter.
As the last 30 seconds ticked away on the clock, the Blues were only one basket behind the Warriors. In an attempt to take control, the home team incurred multiple fouls and put Waterloo on the line twice, tacking three points onto their lead. The Blues couldn’t catch up to the Warriors, who walked away with the win.
Magalas, who was named Blues player of the game against the Warriors, said, “[I’m] obviously disappointed. We lost to them in preseason too and this was a big redemption game for us. We don’t match up well against these guys. We have a tough time with them, and I think they have a tough time with us. We always have a lot of low-scoring games when we play them, and tonight we were just on the other side of that low score.”
Paris, who had been named the player of the game the night before, summed up the weekend perfectly, “Last night, I think we just fed off the energy of the crowd that was there and tonight we came up a bit flat. Maybe we were a little tired from that overtime game last night. […] Nonetheless, we’re the number six team in the country and we have to come out and play and be much better [than we were] tonight.”
