Thomson won't play in OUA Wilson Cup Final Four

Ryan Thomson will not play for the Lakehead Thunderwolves at the OUA Wilson Cup Final Four.

The fourth-year forward, LU’s biggest outside threat and their No. 2 guy in the post, injured his left knee in the dying seconds of the Wolves come-from-behind OUA West semifinal win over McMaster. Thomson, who watched practice Wednesday with a brace on his injured knee, was using crutches to move about the Thunderdome as his teammates prepared for Friday’s OUA semifinal against No. 1 Carleton.

It’s a big gap to fill, said men's basketball coach Scott Morrison, but he’s confident his troops can manage.
 
“It doesn’t make it any easier, but we should have some experience in this situation. It didn’t go as well as we’d hoped in the first semester when we didn’t have Ryan in the lineup, but we did have a couple of close games against some of the top teams in the country, including UBC and Ryerson,” Morrison said.

“We’re going to take a different approach mentally and try to raise their level a little bit. Hopefully that will be enough.”

Thomson said he an MRI on his injured knee, but is still awaiting word from his doctor on the exact nature of the injury.

Morrison, while ruling the Oakville, Ont. native out for this weekend, said nationals, should Lakehead make it that far, are still a possibility for Thomson.

“I think he is, if we can get there,” Morrison said. “Maybe if every guy can fight this weekend, we can get him back next weekend. For now we’ve just got to hope for the best.”

Thomson averaged 14.4 points a game for Lakehead this season in 16 games. He missed the playoffs a year ago with a foot injury.