The McMaster men’s basketball team defeated their cross-town rivals from Mohawk College 87-51 in pre-season action at the Burridge Gym.

It took awhile for both teams to find the mark in the early going and the first quarter ended with McMaster holding a 17-11 advantage.  The lead went up to 20 to 11, when the Mountaineers switched to a zone defense that gave the Marauders some trouble.  Struggling against the zone, McMaster saw Mohawk get within 22-20, before the Marauders ended the half with a 12-2 run to take a 34-22 lead into halftime.

A strong start to the third quarter saw McMaster extend the lead as the Maroon heated up from long-range.  Two 3-point shots from Adam Presutti and one from Nate Pelech keyed the surge and the Mac advantage grew to 44-22 before Mohawk called a time-out, but the Mountaineers never recovered.

Marauder coach Amos Connolly went deep into his bench and saw the lead continue to grow over the last two quarters.
 
The Maroon had four players score in double figures, led by Adam Presutti with 20, followed by Aaron Redpath with 13, Nate Pelech with 11, and Joe Rocca with 10. The top shooter for Mohawk was Manny Campbell with 11 points.

McMaster out-rebounded Mohawk by 56 to 37 for the game

The Marauders next head into a tough weekend against AUS competition, as they host the St. Francis Xavier X-Men on Friday, October 19^th with a 7 p.m. tip in the Burridge Gym, and then welcome the Cape Breton University Capers to Hamilton for a game on Sunday, October 21^st that will start at 1 p.m. in the afternoon.