What seemed like a comfortable season-closing win for McMaster, as they looked ahead to Wednesday's playoff opener, suddenly turned anxious Saturday.

After a nail-biting final few moments of the fourth quarter, the Marauders pulled out a 78-76 victory to sweep the season series over the Algoma Thunderbirds and wrap up their regular season on a six-game winning streak.

McMaster completed the OUA schedule at 10-14, putting the finishing touches on an incredible second-semester turnaround that saw the Marauders rebound from a 1-9 showing in the fall to reel off a 9-5 record in divisional play and snag a playoff spot in the OUA West.

Having secured the fifth seed in the division, the Marauders will now travel to Waterloo to battle the fourth-seeded Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks on Wednesday, February 21. That game is scheduled to tip off at 7:00 p.m. and can be seen live and on demand on OUA.tv.

David McCulloch (Hamilton, ON) led the Marauders with a 21-point outing Saturday, finishing the game at 40 per cent from beyond the arc.

McMaster's big man, Matt Quiring (Cambridge, ON) registered his second consecutive double double, scoring 13 points while posting a matching total of 13 rebounds.

Nathan Riley and Cailum White matched each other in points, scoring 18 each for the Thunderbirds in a losing effort, and combining to shoot 46 per cent from the field. Riley also added 12 rebounds.

Not to be defined by their performance from the night before, Algoma kept pace with the Marauders in the opening quarter. McMaster finished the quarter with a 21-17 lead following a deep three by McCulloch as time expired.

The Thunderbirds looked to play a similar style to McMaster's, in launching consistently from the three-point line. In the first half, Algoma matched their game total (five) of three-pointers from their Friday night matchup against the Marauders, shooting 33.3 per cent from beyond the arc, while the Marauders hit 35.3 per cent of their three-point attempts.

McMaster pushed the scoring in the third quarter, eventually creating themselves a 10-point cushion by capitalizing off of turnovers and fouls by the Thunderbirds.

Early in the fourth quarter, Mac's Kareem Collins (Hamilton, ON) fouled out after committing his fifth foul of the game.

Algoma, pushing for the comeback, forced Marauders' head coach Patrick Tatham to call a timeout with three minutes remaining in the final quarter.

The Thunderbirds kept the pressure on the Marauders as they narrowed the gap to a single point late in the fourth quarter.

McMaster got the late bucket they needed to force Algoma into fouling, and got both Miles Seward (Toronto, ON) and Danylo Kostecki (Mississauga, ON) to the line for foul shots, running the Thunderbirds and their furious comeback attempt out of time.