The Varsity Blues men’s basketball team met the Waterloo Warriors for the first time this season at the Goldring Centre for High-Performance Sport on November 6. The Blues entered the Wednesday night matchup coming off a 114–41 thrashing of the Algoma Thunderbirds. Against a 1–2 Warriors squad, they were looking to win their third straight and stay undefeated at home.

What happened?

The first quarter started slow, with the teams trading jump shots and steals. The Blues played well defensively, packing the paint and racking up rebounds. The big man forward duo of Nigel Hylton and Lennart Weber were especially impressive in the first, where they suffocated opposing drives to the rim and combined for a Hylton steal with one minute left. 

Veteran Iñaki Alvarez contributed five points in the first quarter, which was the beginning of a productive night for the guard as he dictated the offense well. The period ended with the Warriors leading 13–11. 

The second quarter was when the game picked up steam. The Blues went to work in the paint and picked up free throws to chip at the Warriors’ lead. However, timely baskets from Waterloo guards Cristian Craciun and Rafael Llorin kept the Blues at bay. 

With four minutes left in the second quarter, Blues forward Anthony Daudu made arguably the most important play of the first half. After a missed three-pointer, he displayed tremendous hustle to keep the ball inbounds, allowing forward Quarry Whyne to recover the offensive rebound. He then flipped it to Daudu, who drained a clutch three-pointer that tied the game at 23–23. It was his only three-pointer of the night, but Daudu was excellent defensively, chipping in seven rebounds, three steals, and two blocks. The three-pointer sparked an inspired run by the Blues, capped off by an Alvarez jumper to go into halftime with the Blues up 37–32.

The Blues came out hot to start the second half, with Alvarez running the offense and passing the ball well. Guard Simeon Jeffers made his mark with nine points in the third quarter — scoring 15 total during the whole game — including a beautiful individual layup with 30 seconds left. 

The Blues built a 10-point lead, but the Warriors would then chip away at the score. Craciun continued his strong shooting performance from the field, and turnovers by the Blues allowed Waterloo to take the lead heading into the fourth quarter. From there on, it was a tight defensive affair that went down to the wire. With only a minute left in the game, Alvarez pulled down a crucial offensive board and then scored to cut Waterloo’s lead to just a single point, but his final jump would not go down, resulting in heartbreak for the Blues.

Ultimately, the Warriors had a better shooting night, particularly from three-point range.

Waterloo shot 34.6 per cent of the attempts from the three-point line compared to 16.7 per cent for U of T. The game was dictated by runs as well as strong defense and rebounding for both teams — Weber finished with 14 boards. There were six different lead changes, and the two teams were tied on 10 different occasions throughout the match.

The Blues locking in for the game. COURTESY OF ARU DAS CC VARSITY BLUES MEDIA

What’s next?

The Blues looked to bounce back on November 9 when they played at the University of Guelph Gryphons. The Blues grabbed a convincing 85–68 road win taking their record to 4–2 in the Ontario University Athletics. The team will play the University of Windsor on November 13 at the Goldring Centre Kimel Family Field House as they look to continue their solid start to the season.