With two minutes to play, the Marauders held a four-point lead at 75-71 and were poised for an important victory on home court that would clinch a home playoff game at Burridge Gym.

But the plan unraveled quickly, as the Guelph Gryphons hit a quick three-pointer to flip momentum on its head, and completed the comeback when two late looks for the hosts from three-point range went for naught.

Guelph secured the 77-75 win over McMaster to vault into fourth in the OUA West standings at 11-12, while the Marauders fell to 10-13 with one game left to be played.

The result left McMaster's particular playoff fate in flux ahead of the team's final regular season contest in London on Saturday, February 16, where the Marauders will battle the Western Mustangs.

Still able to catch and surpass the Gryphons, over who they enjoy the head-to-head tiebreaker despite Wednesday's loss, the Marauders can also be caught by the currently sixth-seeded Lakehead Thunderwolves (9-13), who have a game in hand and hold the tiebreaker in the teams' head-to-head encounters.

In short, McMaster is guaranteed a playoff berth, but could finish anywhere between fourth and sixth in the OUA West depending on the weekend's results. Fourth position carries hosting rights for a first round playoff against the division's fifth seed, while sixth position would require the Marauders to travel to the third seed.

Honoured in a pregame ceremony before his final regular season contest at Burridge Gym, senior guard David McCulloch gave the McMaster faithful a performance to remember. He led the Marauders with 21 points in the loss, hitting seven of 17 attempts from the field and three of six from three-point range, while making good on four of five trips to the free throw line.

Fellow veteran Connor Gilmore followed close behind with 18 points, but his participation was limited in the fourth quarter after picking up his fourth foul.

Foul trouble was a common concern on Wednesday, as the two teams combined for 45 personal fouls and a total of three players fouled out of the contest, including Guelph's Rasheed Weekes and Trevor Hutton and Mac's Matt Quiring.

Fuelled by their ability to regain control of possession throughout the game, McMaster forced 25 turnovers from Guelph while committing just 15 of its own.

But the Gryphons made many of their possessions sting with their efficiency beyond the arc, where the visitors hit eight of 19 three-point attempts (42 per cent) while limiting the Marauders to just five of 20 in the process.

NEXT UP: McMaster closes out the regular season with a road trip to London on Saturday, February 16, where the Marauders meet the Western Mustangs for a 3:00 p.m. matinee at Alumni Hall. That game can be seen live on OUA.tv.