Fearlessly throwing himself into a showdown with Lakehead's Nahshon Hurst, Miles Seward (Toronto, ON) produced a career night and helped engineer a closely-fought McMaster win.

The guard poured in 32 points to cement a new single-game career high Saturday, as the Marauders outlasted the Thunderwolves 94-88 to sweep their two-game set in Thunder Bay.

With the win, McMaster improved to 6-14 on the season, leapfrogging Guelph into sole possession of the sixth and final playoff position in the OUA West division with five games to play.

Seward's massive output came on a whopping tally of 26 attempts from the field, hitting five of 16 from three-point range while maintaining a perfect five for five from the free throw line.

By comparison, Hurst concluded Saturday with 27 points, hitting 12 of 18 from the field and earning much of his success from close range.

Strong in support of their high-volume shooter, the trio of guards David McCulloch (Hamilton, ON) and Kareem Collins (Hamilton, ON), and forward Matthew Quiring (Cambridge, ON), contributed 17, 13 and 15 points respectively in the win.

McMaster's success on the glass, where they pulled down 10 more rebounds overall (48-38) than Lakehead, and 16 on the offensive glass, helped the visitors succeed behind their high-volume approach.

The Marauders flew out of the gate Saturday, getting into the paint and to the free throw line with impunity in the opening quarter.

With the team as a whole hitting seven of eight attempts from the line in the first, Collins jumped out to the team lead with eight points, six of which came on a perfect run of form from the stripe.

Shooting 43 per cent as a team, and with Seward showing early signs of his ability with three buckets on eight attempts, the Marauders held a 13-point lead through the first 10 minutes of play.

That advantage shrunk quickly in the second, as Lakehead found their range on offence, going 12 of 15 from the field in the quarter and scoring a total of 34 points.

Nahshon Hurst led the charge with 12 of those points, as the Thunderwolves cut Mac's lead to just four at the halftime break.

Continuing to get to the line with ease, McMaster was able to maintain an edge at the break after making 13 of 14 free throws in the half.

Seward was characteristically unafraid to shoot, adding seven points in the second quarter, including a four-point play after absorbing contact beyond the arc. He had three of Mac's four successful three-pointers in the half.

In the third, the battle between Seward and Hurst heated up, with the Marauder pouring in 12 points on five of seven from the field and two of four from three-point range. His counterpart answered with eight points of his own, as Lakehead remained within striking distance through three quarters, stuck two at 70-68.

Compared to his massive output in the third, Seward was quiet from the field in the fourth, hitting just one shot from the field. But he was crucially perfect on four free throw attempts, doing his part as Lakehead fouled late.

His veteran teammate McCulloch was clutch when called upon in the fourth, driving and hitting a layup in traffic with a minute to play to give his team a 90-85 lead and force a Lakehead timeout. He had six of his 17 points in the quarter.

NEXT UP: The Marauders return home to Burridge Gym, where they will see out the remainder of their regular season schedule. The first of those contests comes on Wednesday, February 7, when the Marauders play host to the Waterloo Warriors.

That 8:00 p.m. game can be seen live on OUA.tv.