A wobble in the third quarter, which saw Lakehead's lead swell to 10 points, threatened to topple McMaster on Friday, before an inspired fourth quarter effort saw the hosts battle to a win in front of their home faithful.

The Marauders outscored the Thunderwolves 29-14 in the fourth quarter to overhaul a nine-point deficit through 30 minutes and come away with a 77-71 win.

Jumping back into the win column, McMaster moved to 7-8 in conference play and 3-1 in the New Year.

Veteran forward Connor Gilmore set a new career single-game high with 17 rebounds, while scoring a game high 25 points for his fourth double double of the season. He was 12 of 14 from the free throw line.

Meanwhile, rookie guard Jordan Henry pieced together a double double of his own with a season-high 12 assists to go along with 13 points, while shooting six of 11 from the field.

Their prowess on the glass, led by Gilmore, helped the Marauders weather a first quarter in which they struggled mightily from the field. Mac was good on just five of 21 attempts in the opening 10 minutes (21 per cent), but out-rebounded Lakehead by eight and got to the free throw line six times to enjoy a 15-14 lead at quarter's end.

The complexion of the game shifted in the second, as McMaster's inside game waned slightly while their shooting began to rebound, with Gilmore knocking down a pair of triples to complement three points from the line, and his team going 7-19 from the field.

The end result was another closely-edged quarter, with Mac carrying a 34-31 advantage into the halftime break.

When Lakehead reversed their trend through 20 minutes, however, and began to get shots up in the third quarter, the game took a turn for the worse for McMaster.

Committing eight turnovers in the third, the Marauders saw their opponents shoot 54.5 per cent, led by a nine-point period from Lock Lam, which culminated in a 26-14 swing in the Thunderwolves favour and a nine-point lead for them through 30 minutes.

They faced a considerable hill to climb in the game's final quarter, but the hosts proved up to the task, cutting out the turnovers and re-establishing the lead on the boards, where they out-rebounded Lakehead 11-6.

With the entire group discovering their scoring touch, en route to a 10-16 shooting performance from the field, McMaster dramatically re-took the lead with under three minutes to play.

A shot-clock violation at 68-68 gave Mac possession, and rookie wing Sefa Otchere duly finished underneath for 70-68, before the Marauders quickly turned the Thunderwolves ensuing, wasted possession into a fast-break and a emphatic Otchere dunk.

That sent Lakehead to a timeout, and marked the end of their challenge on the night, as a Damiann Prehay layup two possessions later forced the visitors desperately to foul.

NEXT UP: McMaster and Lakehead meet yet again on Saturday afternoon, with tipoff slated for 4:00 p.m. That game can be seen live on OUA.tv or on tape delay on Hamilton's Cable 14 at 8:00 p.m.