Box Score The McMaster men's basketball team needed extra time to stay undefeated, but the Marauders survived a tough clash with Lakehead  to complete an 82-76 victory.

Starting off by making 3 of 4 shots from long range, the Marauders were able to take a 13-6 lead after the opening quarter. 

But the Thunderwolves showed some grit and opened the second stanza with an 8-0 run to take the lead and carried the advantage  through to the end of the half.  At intermission Lakehead was in front 31-28.

McMaster tied the game at 32-32 early in the third, but a Lakehead 7-0 run restored the lead and forced Marauder coach Amos Connolly to call timeout.   Coming out of the timeout , McMaster managed to swing the momentum and slowly started to trim the Lakehead advantage.  By the end of 30 minutes, the Marauders held a narrow 51-49 lead.

The fourth quarter saw the Marauders set the early pace and it was the Thunderwolves who had to burn a timeout with five minutes left as they trailed 65-57.   Now Lakehead turned the tide and chipped away at the McMaster lead, until the teams were tied 69-69 in the final minute.  It looked like Mac's Rohan Boney would be the hero as he made a tough shot to put his team up by two with 6 seconds remaining, but Lakehead got a tough bucket from Becarius Dinkins with only 1.4-seconds left and Mac could not hit a last ditch shot to take the win, sending the teams to overtime tied at 71-71.

The overtime saw the teams trade hoops early, but it was the Marauders who got the lead late and then they made their free throws down the stretch to close out the win in the OUA season opener.  Lazar Kojovic went 4 for 4 from the line in the final minute.

Boney was a force for McMaster all game and finished with 24 points and 14 rebounds.  In the fourth quarter he made several clutch shots to keep his team in the game.  Connor Gilmore also had a double-double with 15 points and 13 boards, while making two huge treys late in the game.  Dave McCulloch also had 15 while Chris Thompson added 12 off the bench.  Dinkins had a strong game for Lakehead, finishing with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

The Marauders will clash with Lakehead again on Saturday night in the finale of the two-game weekend series. Tip off at the Burridge Gym is set for 8-pm, following the women's game.