Box Score The McMaster men's basketball team used a big second quarter to build the lead and then never allowed Western any opportunity to consider a comeback, and defeated the Mustangs 79-49 in London on Saturday afternoon.
The will moves the Marauder record to 7 and 3 and guarantees McMaster at least a share of first place in the OUA West division, heading into the exam break and holiday hiatus.
The first quarter saw the teams play fairly even with McMaster holding an 18-15 lead after 10 minutes.
Coming out hot in the second, the Marauders ran off 11 unanswered points to grab a 29-15 advantage and Western struggled to find any offense. McMaster kept fresh legs on the floor and did a good job of moving the ball and locating open shooters. The main beneficiary was Nate Pelech who calmly lit up the Mustangs from long range by making all three of his shots from beyond the arc. By halftime the Marauder lead was 42-26.
The trend continued in the second half as the Marauders got production from whoever was on the floor, while Western's bench contributed a single point by the end of the third quarter. Heading to the final period McMaster was in front 64-38.
In the fourth, Mac Coach Amos Connolly got everyone that was dressed into the game and rotated his roster to allow some of the reserves an extended run. The Marauders maintained their intensity, even playing with a big lead and finished the game with a 30-point win, and having won all four quarters.
Pelech was perfect from the 3-point line until a fourth quarter miss from long range ended his shooting streak. He still finished with 18 to lead the McMaster scoring parade, while Leon Alexander and Aaron Redpath each hit for 10 points. For Western Rashayne Case and Quinn Henderson each dropped 10 to lead Mustang scoring.
As a team McMaster made almost 51% of its shots, while Western struggled from the floor and only shot 30% as a team. The Marauders also won the battle of the boards 37-29.
McMaster will resume OUA West play on January 8th when it travels to St. Catharines to take on the Brock Badgers.
