Hamilton, Ont. - The McMaster men's basketball team ended their 2011-12 regular season on a high note, taking out the Laurier Golden Hawksby a score of 93-67 and securing second place in the OUA West. With the big win for second place, the Marauders earn themselves a bye in the first round of the playoffs and will advance to the quarter-finals. 

Taylor Black opened up the scoring for McMaster in their last regular season game. With a foul shot from the Hawks, the score would read 2-1 until the 6:30 mark where Laurier would get the scoring started again. Each team would wake up as three’s were scored on either end at the half way mark through the first quarter. It would be the Hawks that took the lead early on, up 13-7 at 3:40.

Some shots made from Taylor Black would get the Marauders back in it and i t would be captain Cam Michaud that would give McMaster the lead back at 18-17 to end the quarter.

The scoring really opened up for both teams in the second quarter, with shots dropping on both ends of the court. Black was on fire for the Marauders, with 13 points at just the 7:00 mark of the second. McMaster would build on their lead from the first and half way through the second quarter, the Marauders would lead by seven at 30-23.

Rookie Adam Presutti would also be making the difference for the Marauders, with 12 points and four rebounds with four minutes to go until half. McMaster would continue to push on the offensive and would earn the nine point lead at 35-26.

From then on, the Marauders would go on an outstanding 13-0 run, with the Hawks unable to make a play on offense and unable to make a stop on defence. A number of players contributed for McMaster in the second including Nathan Pelech with a three-pointer and rookie Aaron Redpath with some nice jumpers. The score at half time would have the Marauders up by 21 at 49-28.

Half way through the third, the Hawks started scoring, the Marauders continually responded, maintaining their 20+ point lead. Black’s dunk early on would give the home team momentum to keep switching it up on the offensive and both Black and Presutti would have 19 points at 4:00 in the third.

Laurier would call a timeout at 1:25 in the third, but the Marauders 27 point lead was untouchable until the end of the quarter with the Marauders up 76-49.

In the fourth, despite the Hawks outscoring the Marauders 19-17, it clearly wasn't enough as the final score would read 93-67 in favour of the home team. McMaster's final record for the regular season would be 17-5, giving them second place in the OUA West.

Taylor Black would score 19 points and grab 7 rebounds in the win. Rookie Adam Presutti would also score 19. Cam Michaud and rookie Aaron Redpath would score 12 each and Satar Wahidi would lead the Marauders in rebounds with 8. 

For Laurier, Kale Harrison lead the Hawks with 16 points. William Coulthard would be the only other Hawk to get into double-digits scoring 11 and grabbing 6 rebounds.

The Marauders will host an OUA quarter-final playoff game at Burridge Gymnasium next Saturday, February 25th.