THUNDER BAY – Ryan Thomson says the second quarter has been a trouble spot all fall.
The Lakehead Thunderwolves coach on Friday said his team has a history of getting off to a fast start, only to watch their lead begin to fade after 10 minutes.
The Thunderwolves acted out the script to the letter on Friday night, building a 31-17 lead over the visiting Brock Badgers, only to have their opponent close the door defensively while finding their range at the other end of the floor.
It resulted in a 44-37 halftime deficit that Lakehead could never quite erase en route to a 91-85 defeat at the C.J. Sanders Fieldhouse, marking the team’s return to its home court for the first time since the pandemic began.
The Wolves, ranked 11th, just outside the USport top 10, struggled mightily in the second quarter, outscored 27-13, unable to stop Brock’s Tajinder Lall, who finished with 28 points, and Kascius Small-Martin, to put up 21, scoring at will at times.
“The second quarter has been a challenge for us all year,” Thomson said. “Just finding a way to consistently get the same high-quality shots, as well as the same level of intensity defensively (has been tough).
“For 40 minutes with a young team, that’s always a challenge, but the second quarter has kind of been the difference maker in all our games this year.”
Foul trouble didn’t help, returning star Laoui Msambya and fourth-year recruit Michael Okafur, who fouled out late in the fourth, banished to the bench for much of the decisive quarter.
Lakehead did it to themselves in the second, sending the Badgers to the line nine times in just over two minutes, a span in which Brock closed the gap from 32-23 and claimed a 34-33 lead, one of five lead changes in the quarter.
“They shot 40 free throws. That is astronomical,” Thomson said. “That’s a humungous number of free throws. Considering we only gave up 91, and let them shoot 40 free throws, it’s not too bad. We’d like to foul less tomorrow.”
Okafur, who topped the Wolves with 22 points, hit a turnaround jumper early in the third that cut the gap to three, but the Badgers pulled away once again, leading 70-59 after three.
Lakehead clawed back to six points early in the fourth, Jared Kreiner hitting his second of three three-pointers on the night, the third-year guard making his first official start with the Thunderwolves, finishing with 10 points.
Brock looked to be running away with it in the final period, up 11. But with two minutes to go Okafur slammed home a two-handed dunk and hit a pair of free throws to narrow the Badgers lead to seven. Msambya hit another bucket to make it 88-83 and the Wolves got the ball back on a steal, only to have Kreiner pass up a shot attempt in favour of a pass – with no teammate there to grab it. The Wolves made the stop on the Badgers and Msambya dropped one, leaving the Lakehead just three points back. Tajinder seasled with at the line, hitting three of four free-throws.
Brock, who will look for the weekend sweep on Saturday, leads the OUA West at 3-0.
