The McMaster men's basketball team went toe-to-toe with the nationally second-ranked Brock Badgers, but were not able to pull the upset and dropped a 96-87 contest Friday night in St. Catharines.

Sparked by some early shooting from Miles Seward, McMaster was dead even with the hometown Badgers and only a late basket allowed Brock to take a 23-20 lead after one quarter.  Seward went 3 of 4 from beyond the arc to keep Mac close early.

In the second quarter the Marauders gave up the first six points, before going on 13-0 run to take a four-point lead at 33-29.  But behind the inside duo of Dani Elgadi and Cassidy Ryan, Brock was able to assume control and three baskets in the final 45 seconds of the half sent the Badgers into the intermission with a 48-43 advantage.

The third and fourth quarters were very similar as McMaster made some runs to get close, but Brock  always responded and never allowed the Marauders to take the lead over the final 20 minutes.  The closest McMaster could get was a single possession at 90-87 before the Badgers closed out the win at the charity stripe in the final minute.

McMaster lost Seward to an injury in the second quarter, which made things more difficult as Mac's leading scorer did not return in the second half.

David McCulloch did his best to keep the Marauders in striking distance with 26 for the game.  Seward dropped 14 before getting hurt, while Kareem Collins also scored 14 for Mac.  Brock got double-digit scoring from all five starters, led by Ryan who had 20.   Brock used its size advantage to dominate the rebound totals with 51, compared to 36 for McMaster.

With the win Brock remains undefeated at 9-0 in the OUA West, while McMaster falls to 1 and 7 in league play.