Fantastic finish

The Lakehead Thunderwolves are a win away from a second straight trip to the Final 8.

The Wolves, buoyed by a 16-1 fourth-quarter run that blew open a tight game, and a 14-point, 14-rebound performance from graduating guard Jamie Searle, went on to eliminate the Western Mustangs by a 63-49 count.

Searle, who celebrated his birthday on Friday, said the fourth quarter couldn’t come soon enough in a contest that saw the Wolves trailing by as much as six after the Mustangs scored seven straight early in the third.

“We lived and died by the fourth quarter last year and saw some glimpses of it again tonight, so it was nice,” Searle said.

“They went on their run there at the start of the third and we didn’t get down, which was big. We knew shots were going to start to fall. We knew threes were going to start dropping at some point. We take more threes than any team in the country. We knew they’d start falling and they did and it helped us out.”

LU’s long-distance love affair looked like a relationship gone bad in the first couple of quarters. The Wolves were 0-for-13 from beyond the arc in the opening half, hanging on to a 22-21 lead after 20 minutes, despite not allowing Western on the board for the first five minutes of the game and opening a hefty 12-2 lead.

Lakehead coach Scott Morrison said he was getting a little nervous as the game progressed into the second half, but let his players do the job he recruited them to do, calling a couple of momentum-shifting timeouts just to let them know he was still there.

“The guys showed a good bit of poise to hang in there and get a couple of buckets after our timeout. I liked our position when we were close going into the fourth. I think our guys tend to step up,” Morrison said.

“I think our guys tend to step up. We shot horrible all game, but our rebounding made up for it. That’s a pure effort thing and I think we really earned the win tonight.”

Searle started the comeback in the third, hitting a pair of free throws seven minutes into the third, then converted a dish from Greg Carter to pull the Wolves to within one at 35-34.

After Ryan Barbeau re-established a three-point Mustangs advantage, Lakehead rookie Ben Johnson buried a trey to draw the Wolves back on even ground for the first time since the start of the quarter. A minute or so later, down by one, Venzal Russell gave the Wolves a 40-39 on a pass from Searle, then did it again on a beautiful reverse in the final minute of play.

Western, led by Andrew Wedemire’s 14, managed to even the score 46-46 on a Quinn Henderson three, but then frustration set in as the Wolves ran off 11 straight, including six straight by post Yoosrie Salhia, who finished with a game-high 19.

“You could see them starting to yell at each other. That’s one thing we’ve prided ourselves in all year. We’re the biggest family here and I think that’s when we knew, when they started bickering, that they were kind of out of it.”

Salhia said it was a little nerve-wracking, but it was nothing they haven’t seen before.

“We stayed together and pulled it out. We weren’t too nervous. We just had to execute and we were fine,” he said. “We really didn’t change anything. We had a game plan and to be successful we had to stick to it ... So that’s what we did.”

Lakehead will play Ottawa at the OUA Final 4 next weekend in Hamilton, with the winner of that game automatically getting one of two OUA berth’s at nationals in Halifax. Ottawa knocked off Toronto 85-60 Saturday night, while Carleton downed Ryerson 97-73.

Claw marks: Windsor was eliminated Saturday night, dropping an 85-82 decision to Laurier ... Bernard King made his return to the LU lineup after spending a few weeks on the sideline with an ankle injury. He had one rebound in three minutes of play ... The Wolves were 10-for-38 in the first half from the field, but 15-for-33 in the second half, when they were 4-for-16 from three-point territory.