The McMaster men's basketball team defeated the Brock Badgers 87-73 on Wednesday night in the Burridge Gym, with the loss eliminating Brock from post-season play.

Despite needing a win to have any chance at the playoffs, Brock allowed the Marauders to grab control early and behind some long range shooting from Adam Presutti and Aaron Redpath, McMaster was in front 23-12 after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Marauders got their transition game in high gear and before the Badgers could call a timeout the Mac lead was 35-16.  McMaster got the margin up to 44-20 before Brock scored the last five points of the quarter to take back some momentum, but still trailing 44-25 at intermission.

The Badgers fought to trim the deficit in the third and narrowed the gap to 49-35.  But when Marauder Joe Rocca drained a trey to make it 54-35, the Badgers had to call timeout to stem the Maroon tide.  After 30 minutes, the McMaster lead stood at 68-48.

McMaster ended any Brock hopes of a comeback early in the final quarter.  Presutti and Trevon McNeil dropped long bombs on consecutive possessions and the lead was back up to 24 points at 76-52.   Brock played hard up to the final buzzer, but was down by too much and could only get as close as the final margin.

McMaster had five players in double-figures led by Presutti with 14, Redpath and McNeil each chipped in 13, Rocca scored 12 and Taylor Black finished with 10 points and 12 boards for the double-double. Top shooter for Brock was Nolan MacKenzie with 17.

The Marauders won the battle of the boards 47-40.

The win improves McMaster's OUA record to 15 and 3, while Brock finishes at 7 and 12.

The Marauders will close out the OUA conference schedule on Saturday, February 21^st vs. the Algoma University Thunderbirds.   It is also Senior's Day as both McMaster teams will honour their graduating players.  Game time on Saturday is at 2 p.m. for the men's game, immediately following the women's contest.