THUNDER BAY – In the OUA, just two undefeated teams remain.
The unranked Lakehead Thunderwolves, at 7-0 after Friday night`s 85-64 triumph over the visiting Guelph Gryphons.
The No. 6 Carleton Ravens, at 6-0, are the other.
While their toughest tests are yet to come – the teams they’ve played this season to date have a combined 8-31 record after Friday night’s contests – the Thunderwolves have rolled through the OUA West and put themselves in a good spot ahead of next weekend’s first true test, road games against No. 4 Ontario Tech and No. 14 Queen’s.
Despite a rough first quarter that saw them trail the Gryphons 20-19 after one quarter, the T-Wolves kept fighting, pulled away to open a nine-point lead at half and outlasted their opponent in the second half to capture an 85-64 win at the C.J. Sanders Fieldhouse.
Harold Santacruz, a powerful force in the paint, finished with 15 points and five rebounds to help lead LU to the win, and said they’d like a do-over for the first quarter, but liked the way the team performed over the final 30 minutes of play.
“I think we had a slow start,” the Spanish import said. “But then we picked it up a little bit and played together and it made the difference.”
The perfect record, regardless of how early it is in the season, feels great, he added. But the T-Wolves aren’t taking anything or any opponent for granted at this stage.
“We’ve got to play every game as if it was the last one. We have to go into every game thinking about that and try to give our best,” Santacruz said.
Thunderwolves coach Ryan Thomson said he wasn’t thrilled with how his team handled Guelph’s star forward Eric Armstrong, who punished them for 28 points, including nine in the first quarter, running roughshod over Lakehead’s attempts to stop him throughout the contest.
“Armstrong was kind of the priority on the scout all week of different ways we wanted to guard him. Really what we’ve prepared for and saw on film was what he was able to execute. So that’s a little bit disappointing, but we’re happy to come away with the win,” Thomson said.
“Ultimately we had a lot of guys contributing tonight, which has kind of par for the course for us.”
Nathan Bilamu topped all LU players with 20 points, while Adrian Nowak came off the bench and put up 14 and Chris Sagl finished with 13 points and seven dimes.
It was Sagl who helped give the T-Wolves the momentum heading into the second half. He forced a late steal and went all the way for the bucket to give LU a 42-35 lead, then hit another hoop just before the buzzer to extend the lead to nine.
Early in the third, after Armstrong hit a quick three to cut Lakehead’s lead to 46-38, Marcos Alonso responded with a three of his own, returning the Thunderwolves lead back to double digits. They never dipped below the rest of the way, leading 68-51 after three quarters. They finished the game on a 6-0 run to push the advantage over 20 points.
Thomson said he knows the schedule is about to get tougher, with Laurier and No. 1 Carleton heading to Thunder Bay in two weeks. But as the wins start to add up, the team’s record is nothing to complain about.
“No, we’ll never complain about getting wins. Regardless of how they come, they’re hard to get. Next week will be a really good test for us,” he said.
