The McMaster men's basketball team shook off a slow start and used a third-quarter explosion to hand the Waterloo Warriors an 81-64 defeat in Hamilton on Saturday.

The game didn't begin quite the way Marauder fans were expecting, as Waterloo Guard Myles Charvis had a strong opening quarter and the Warriors took advantage of a sluggish McMaster start to take a 17-11 lead after 10 minutes.

The Maroon started to push back against a very physical Warrior team to start the second stanza.  The jump in defensive intensity saw the Marauders start to assume control and ignited by a big three-pointer from Trevon McNeil, they ended the quarter on an 11-2 run to take a 33-30 lead into the intermission.
 

Waterloo wanted to get back to what was working at the start of the game, but the third quarter was all McMaster as the Marauders kept up the pressure to win the period 28-12 and open a 61-42 margin heading to the final quarter.   

The fourth quarter saw the Mac lead hover around the 20-point mark, and the closest the Warriors could get was within 16.   Coach Connolly was able to use all 12 players and the Marauder depth was a factor as no Marauder played more than 25 minutes, while Waterloo had three who logged over 35 minutes of court time.

Leon Alexander was the top Marauder scorer with 17, followed by Taylor Black with 14 and both Rohan Boney and Joe Rocca with 10.  Rocca scored all 10 of his points in the second-half to help the McMaster surge. Top shooter for Waterloo was Jaspreet Gill with 16.

McMaster made 47% of its shots, while Waterloo shot a cooler 38% from the floor.  Enjoying a definite size advantage, the Marauders out-rebounded the Warriors 48-22.

With the win McMaster goes to 10 and 3 in OUA play, and is alone in first in the Central Division.  Next game for the Marauders is on Wednesday, January 28 versus the Guelph Gryphons.