The men’s basketball team fell short 69-81 against the fourth ranked team in the country, the Brock Badgers, Jan. 16 as part of UW’s Alumni Day. Due to the festivities, the game saw a crowd of about 1,000 people fill the new PAC bleachers.
The first quarter saw the Warriors keep it close as the two teams traded baskets for the first five minutes. But with the score 11-10 for the Badgers, the Warriors went on a cold streak as they were only able to score two points for the rest of the quarter while Brock jumped out to the 23-12 lead.
The Warriors were able to get their offence working again as they scored 22 points in the second quarter, but their defence was unable to help them close the gap that the Badgers established in the first quarter. Brock led 47-34 after two quarters.
After the break, Brock was able to hold on to their lead, which forced Waterloo head coach Justin Gunter to call a timeout. Gunter was able to rally the troops as the team came out and was able to cut down Brock’s lead to just six points with Ben Davis, Dylan Phillips, and Jon Ravenhorst leading the way.
Unfortunately, that was as close as the Warriors could get with Brock closing out the third quarter on an 8-0 run, re-establishing their lead.
In the fourth quarter, Brock extended their lead all the way to 24 points. The Warriors were able to cut it down back to 12, but at that point it was too late as Brock came away with the victory with a final score of 81-69.
Despite the loss, the Warriors showed resilience and determination against a Brock team who on paper was superior to them.
The Warriors’ top players all contributed admirably with Muhammad Anwar scoring 16 points on an efficient 7 for 11 shooting while pulling down 13 rebounds. Phillips and Davis scored 15 apiece, while Jon Ravenhorst scored 13 points. Unfortunately, no one else on the team was able to score more than four points.
Johneil Simpson and Dani Elgadi each went off for the Badgers as they both scored 24 points.
This loss dropped their record to 1-8 for the season. They will look to bounce back as they travel to Sudbury and North Bay Jan. 22 and 23 to face off against Laurentian and Nipissing.
