After playing the Ryerson Rams to a virtual standstill through the opening half, the Marauders lost control of Wednesday's contest in the third quarter and were unable to shoot their way out of trouble in the late stages.

Leading 47-46 at the break, the Marauders were outscored by 11 points in the third quarter, and ultimately dropped a 98-90 decision to the Rams in the teams' first game of 2020.

The result handed the U SPORTS no. 7-ranked McMaster its third loss of the season (8-3), while improving Ryerson to 6-5, which is good for third in the OUA Central division behind the Marauders.

Mac's second-year guard Jordan Henry led all scorers with 27 points in a losing effort, and hit seven of 20 shots from the field and a sterling 11 of 14 from the charity stripe in the process. He added five rebounds, three assists and three steals in a well-rounded performance.

Despite winning the turnover battle in forcing 22 from the visitors to 17 of their own, the Marauders were consistently outdone by their lack of accuracy from the field Wednesday, as the team knocked down just 36 per cent of its looks from the field and 28 per cent from three-point range.

By comparison, the Rams made good on 38 of 75 attempts from the field (51 per cent) and nine of 23 from three-point range (39 per cent).

McMaster led by as many as eight points early in the second quarter, before being reeled in by Ryerson by the end of the half in a momentum shift that carried well into the second.

NEXT UP: The Marauders travel to Toronto to battle the 2-11 York Lions on Saturday, January 11. That game will get underway at 8:00 p.m. and can be seen live or on demand on OUA.tv.