Josh Collins, Enrico Diloreto & Michael Petrella Lead Lancers Second Half Surge Past Marauders
Hamilton, ON – After a strong start to the second semester, the McMaster Marauders were facing one of their toughest opponents at home in the Windsor Lancers. After a solid start to the game, a second half surge by the Lancers showed to be too much for the Marauders as Windsor picked up the victory 93-77.
Throughout the first half the tempo was favouring the Marauders; they opened an early 32-15 lead after one quarter. It would be the second quarter where the Lancers would begin their fight, out scoring MAC 29-19 in the quarter, with Lien Phillip (16 pts 4 rbs) leading the way with 10 points, but MAC still had a 51-44 lead into the half.
As the second half was underway, the Lancers attack continued and Phillip would receive assistance from the rest of his teammates, as they outscored the Marauders 24-11 taking a 68-62 lead into the fourth.
This would setup what most believed would be a great finish, however Enrico Diloreto had other plans for the game. He would score nine of his 18 points in the final quarter, which came early to kick start his team as they ran away with the game on the road. Although MAC would keep Lancer big man Lien Phillip scoreless in the fourth, he was still a major threat inside forcing guards to drop down, and finding the open shooters in Diloreto, Josh Collins (17 pts 5 ast 4 rbs) and Michael Petrella (14 pts 3 ast).
McMaster was getting beat on both ends of the floor, getting bullied on every possession as McMaster Head Coach Amos Connolly said after the game, “ We could have been looking at a bigger deficit to start the fourth we got lucky that Windsor came out slow to start the game. They dictated the tempo, and simply out muscled us at every possession on the floor, they did what the wanted- men vs. boys.”
The loss to Windsor snapped a four game win streak for McMaster and put them in third place in OUA West standings at 6-6. After a loss to Laurier, the win over McMaster keeps the Lancers ahead of the pack, first place in the OUA West at 9-3.
Both McMaster and Windsor will go on the road Saturday January 19th, with the Lancers facing off against the Guelph Gryphons, and the Marauders going up against the Waterloo Warriors.
NPH Top Performers
Windsor
Enrico Diloreto 18 pts 4 rbs
Josh Collins 17 pts 4 rbs 5 ast
Lien Phillip 16 pts 4 rbs
Michael Petrella 14 pts 3 rbs 3 ast
McMaster
Joe Rocca 18 pts 4 rbs
Taylor Black 13 pts 8 rbs 3 blk
Rohan Boney 12 pts 5 rbs 6 ast
Aaron Redpath 11 pts 5 rbs 4 ast
