THUNDER BAY – Lakehead Thunderwolves men’s basketball head coach Ryan Thomson and the rest of his staff have a number of goals that they want the team to achieve during the course of a game.
The Thunderwolves put a checkmark next to many of those boxes on Friday night at the Thunderdome as they began the 2024-25 Ontario University Athletics season with a 78-64 victory over the visiting Waterloo Warriors.
“With our zone defence tonight, we kind of mucked up the flow of the game a little bit where Waterloo didn’t have much of a rhythm,” Thomson said.
“That allowed us to get out in transition, get some better shots and play with a little bit more rhythm than they did.”
Most of the first half was a back-and-forth affair, but the Thunderwolves started to pull away as the clock wound down and held a 43-33 halftime advantage following a late three-pointer by Adrian Nowak.
The Warriors cut the lead down to five after starting the third quarter on a 6-1 run, but Chris Sagl got the hosts back on track with six minutes to go in the frame after he drained a shot from beyond the arc.
Lakehead kept their foot on the gas in the fourth quarter and eventually opened up the lead to 17 points.
“It was our unselfishness that was the key tonight, especially on the offensive end,” Thunderwolves fifth year wing Nathan Bilamu said.
“We’re getting better every game. We’re not caught up in the future and what it may hold. We’re into the present and the in-game situations.”
Bilamu led the way for the Thunderwolves with 17 points, while Harold Santacruz had 13. Sagl and Nowak both had 12-point outings and Carsen Unrau hauled in eight rebounds.
Isaiah McRae paced the Warriors offence with 17 points. Rafael Llorin and Cristian Craciun each had 11 points for the visitors.
The Thunderwolves wrap up their weekend at 8 p.m. Saturday as they face the Algoma Thunderbirds, who will be starting their season on the road.
