A herculean effort in the late stages of Wednesday's contest brought the Marauders level with the Windsor Lancers with just over a minute to play, and brought the Burridge Gym crowd to its feet in the process.

But, after trailing by as many as 21 points in the third quarter, a win proved to be a bridge too far for McMaster on the night, as Mac ultimately fell 90-86 to suffer its fourth loss of the OUA regular season.

With the result, the Marauders fell to 9-4 on the season and retained the second spot in the OUA Central standings, while Windsor improved to 7-6 in the OUA West division.

The star pair of guard Jordan Henry and forward Connor Gilmore paced the home side in a losing effort, with 26 and 25 points respectively. Henry continued his torrid start to 2020, and hit 10 of 17 attempts from the field while adding eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.

For his part, Gilmore was nine of 20 from the field and added seven boards and four assists to complete the performance.

Outscored in each of the first three quarters, McMaster saw its deficit swell to 21 points at 2:21 of the third quarter, before the gradual comeback effort began.

With the Windsor lead sitting at 13 at 82-69, McMaster proceeded to rip off a 13-0 run from the three-minute mark of the fourth quarter, and dramatically pulled level when Gilmore followed a layup from Damiann Prehay with a triple with 1:03 to play.

Unfortunately for the hosts, the Lancers made good on a pair of free throws on their ensuing trip down the floor, and after the Marauders missed a three on their next possession, Windsor's Shakael Price drained a triple of his own to stretch the visitors' lead to 87-82 and effectively seal the result.

NEXT UP: McMaster remains at home at Burridge Gym on Saturday, January 18 for a contest against the Western Mustangs at 8:00 p.m. That game will be available to watch live and on demand on OUA.tv.