On Saturday, January 28, the Varsity Blues men’s basketball team faced the Windsor Lancers at the Blues’ home court, the Goldring Centre for High-Performance Sport.
After their big 92–83 win against the Western Mustangs on Friday night, the fans were ecstatic, and the court was packed with friends and family of the Varsity Blues. All eyes were on Blues guard Callum Baker, who displayed an outstanding performance the night before.
What happened
The Lancers broke through the Blues’ defense early on in the first quarter, giving the Lancers a lead that would carry them into halftime. By the end of the second quarter, the Blues were down 15 points, with a score of 50–35.
Despite this, the Blues came onto the court fired up at the start of the third; they were not ready to give up and knew they had to lock in on defense and take advantage of every offensive opportunity they had to close the 15-point gap.
Baker held his head high and carried his team through the third quarter with 10 points and two rebounds. His strong leadership skills and aggressive offensive attacks contributed to the Blues’ third-quarter comeback, closing the gap with a score of 69–58.
With great effort, the Blues made an outstanding comeback in the fourth quarter. There were two minutes left in the game, and the Blues were down by two.
Although the Blues were unable to score that last basket to tie up the game or take the lead and fell short with a final score of 85–78, the fans were proud of the Blues’ efforts.
Baker boasted yet another exceptional performance, finishing with 26 points, six rebounds, four steals, and two assists. His teammates, forward Noah Ngamba and guard Iñaki Alvarez, also performed very well and contributed greatly to the Blues’ comeback in the second half. Ngamba secured 13 points, seven rebounds, and two assists, while Alvarez finished with 12 points, six assists, three rebounds, and two steals.
The Blues now sit in third place in the Central division of the OUA standings, with 12–6 overall and a 0.667 win percentage.
What’s next
On February 3, the Blues are off to St. Catherines, Ontario, where they face the Brock Badgers for the second time this season. In their previous match, the Blues lost 69–87 and will be looking to redeem themselves.
