First-place battle

The Windsor Lancers can be beaten.

 Figuring out how to do it is the difficulty.

That’s the test facing the No. 9-ranked Lakehead Thunderwolves men’s basketball team this weekend, who will play host to the Lancers in a pair of first-place battles that could well decide which team takes the OUA West and who might face the unenviable task of beating the other team on the road to earn a berth at nationals.

The Wolves, who cracked the top 10 for the first time this season when the rankings were handed down on Tuesday, are prepping for the game with a focus on defence, in particular finding a way to stop Windsor’s Isaac Kuon, the second-leading scorer in the OUA.

“Basically we’ve got to stick to what we’ve been doing,” said LU forward Yoosrie Salhia, averaging 10 points and a team-high 7.9 boards a night. “We’ve got to play solid defence and stick to our game plan. Really, that’s what wins us all our games.”

The junior from Toronto said that a division title would be nice, but the Wolves can't let the distraction of first place consume too much of their thoughts, or the weekend could slip away from them in a hurry.

“At the end of the day we know that as long as we make the playoffs, anything can happen. In terms of what it could mean, it makes our path easier in the playoffs. So obviously we want to be No. 1 and we’re going to try to do that this weekend.

Both teams check in with 11-3 records, with Windsor uncharacteristically dropping two of its last four games, including a 62-60 decision against Brock, a team that held the Lancers to six fourth-quarter points and kept Kuon to a season-low five –including a 1-for-15 performance from the field.

“Wow,” said Lakehead forward Ryan Thompson, when told of the feat.

Like Salhia, he’s confident the Wolves can do something similar, but the defence has to be spot on in order to accomplish it.

“Everyone’s got to be talking, communicating, just making sure everyone knows where you’re supposed to be when so-and-so has the ball,” said Thompson, whose team is coming off a weekend road sweep against McMaster.

Lakehead coach Scott Morrison said he knows he’s in for a rough ride this weekend, though he added his players have confidence in their game and they managed to split last year on the road against a Lancers team that hasn’t changed much in 12 months.

“We have to slow them down a bit. They’ve got a couple of guys who can score out of transition. So the first step will be slowing them down. Then we’ll be trying to keep the ball out of the hands of their best scorer, (Kuon). If we can keep the ball out of his hands, the final step will be trying to keep their point guard from getting to the paint and freeing up shots for others,” Morrison said.

“They’ve got a lot of weapons, but they’re really no deeper than us. I think if we come out with maximum intensity for 40 minutes and maybe the home crowd will put us over the edge in the end.”

Morrison, who said he be lying if he said these aren’t big games, wants his players to remember one thing.

“Nobody’s going to win or lose a championship this weekend. But you can certainly make the road a lot easier or a lot tougher for ourselves this weekend. Winning two would be our ultimate goal. That will put us in the driver’s seat for the regular season championship.

“If we can’t win two, if we can get a split we know we can fight all the way to the end. And if we struggle and lose two, we’re going to have to come from behind the last few weeks, and neither team wants to do that.”

Tip-off for the men is 8 p.m. at the Thunderdome.