ot The McMaster men's basketball team returned home after a four-game road swing, but being back in the Burridge Gym was not enough as the Marauders dropped an 89-67 decision to the visiting Laurentian Voyageurs on Friday night.

McMaster started the game in a major funk, while the visitors attacked the basket hard on offense and swarmed the Marauders on defense.   At the end of the opening 10 minutes, Laurentian held a 19-7 lead and could have been up by more.  Early foul trouble hurt the Mac cause as starters Kareem Collins and Matt Quiring both had to sit with two personals.

The second quarter saw McMaster start to find some rhythm behind the shooting of Miles Seward, and the Marauders cut the lead to six at 27-21 midway through the period.  But Laurentian picked up the pace again and behind Nelson Yengue,  finished the half strong to regain the 12-point advantage at 40-28 at the half.

In the third, McMaster again allowed the Voyageurs to take control and kept being plagued by fouls, as the Marauders struggled to guard the quicker visitors.  Laurentian got the lead up to 21, but Mac didn't quit and made a run to get the score back to 63-47 heading to the final quarter.  

With 10 minutes left, McMaster came out firing and a trey from Seward made it 72-61 with just under six minutes remaining.   But that was as close as the Marauders could get, and the Voyageurs closed strongly to take the win.  

Seward led McMaster with 23 and David McCulloch had 17.  In his first career start Kwasi Adu-Poku chipped in 8 points and worked hard on the glass with 8 boards for McMaster.  Laurentian got 32 points from Yengue, with Kadre Gray adding 22.  

McMaster will try to end its current losing skid when the Nipissing University Lakers visit the Burridge Gym on Saturday, November 18th.  Tip-off  is at 8-pm.

For those that can't be at the Burridge Gym, the game is available on OUA.tv