Solidifying their final position in the OUA West ahead of the conference playoffs, the Marauders reeled off their fifth straight win in fine style Friday at home.
McMaster downed the Algoma Thunderbirds 85-65 at Burridge Gym to improve to 9-14 with one game remaining to be played in the regular season.
The Marauders will finish fifth in the division and travel to Wilfrid Laurier for a first round playoff matchup against the Golden Hawks on Wednesday, February 21.
McMaster finished the game with five players enjoying double-digit scoring performances. Third-year man
Kareem Collins (Hamilton, Ont.) led the Marauders with 17 points on the night. Collins finished the game shooting 47 per cent on seven of 15 from the field.
Marauder
Matt Quiring (Cambridge, Ont.) followed up his 23-point performance last weekend with a double double against Algoma. The six-foot-eight forward finished the game with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Brandon Dwyer (Markham, Ont.) was able to muster up a 15-point performance for the Thunderbirds, a season high for the second year guard.
The first quarter barely got a chance to get underway before Algoma's head coach Thomas Cory called a timeout after the Marauders got out to an early 6-0 lead.
Leaning on the quick transitional offence of Collins, the Marauders continued to add to their lead in the opening quarter, finishing the first ten minutes with a 32-12 lead. Collins finished the first quarter with 12 points.
At the end of the first half, the Marauders maintained their 20-point cushion with a 45-25 lead over the Thunderbirds.
A strong defence underlined the offensive explosion for the Marauders in the first half, as they tallied three blocked shots and four steals, while pushing the ball up court and capitalizing off of Algoma's slow transition defence.
Both teams were close in total shot attempts, but McMaster had the upper-hand, shooting 47.4 per cent from the field compared to Algoma's 27.8 per cent.
In the second the half, Algoma continued to allow McMaster to have their way in transition, while the Marauders built upon their strong defensive outing with six blocks and nine steals.
UP NEXT: The Marauders will be back in action for their second matchup of their back-to-back series against Algoma on Saturday, February 17, which marks Seniors' Night and the conclusion of the OUA regular season.
The game will tip off at 8:00 p.m. and can be seen live or on demand on OUA.tv.
