Box Score The McMaster men's basketball team gave the alumni something to cheer about on Marauder Weekend by beating the Western Mustangs 77-61 in Hamilton Saturday afternoon.

It was a physical game from the start, but the Marauders gave as good as they got and behind Leon Alexander and Trevon McNeil took a 20-12 lead after 10 minutes.

The Mustangs' Greg Morrow was doing his best to keep his team in striking range, but when Western's second-leading scorer Peter Scholtes went to the bench with two fouls, the Mustangs struggled to score. McMaster continued to push tempo, while Western wanted to slow things down.

With more scoring options available, McMaster bumped the lead up to 39-23 at halftime. Morrow was a one-man show, scoring 16 of Western's 23 points in the opening half, while Alexander had 13 and McNeil 10 for Mac.

The third quarter was not pretty basketball as Western stepped up their physical style and both teams were called for several fouls that destroyed any kind of flow. The Mustangs were able to trim the McMaster lead by a basket at 54-40 heading to the final stanza.

The final quarter saw McMaster find its swagger somewhat, as the lead went back up to 20 behind continued scoring from Alexander, McNeil, and Rohan Boney, who had a strong second-half for the maroon, before both teams cleared their benches to close out the game.

Alexander finished with 21 to lead McMaster, with McNeil chipping in 16 and Connor Gilmore, who made some tough inside hoops, adding 12. Morrow continued to do his thing, finishing with 34, while Scholtes scored 16 for Western.

The win is the eighth straight for the Marauders, who improve to 9 and 2 and move in front of the idle Brock Badgers for first-place in the OUA Central Division.

McMaster will next make the difficult road trip to Thunder Bay for games at Lakehead University on January 29th and 30th.