With the regular season coming to an end last weekend, the McMaster Marauders men's basketball team sets its eyes on the postseason as the first round of the 2020 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) playoffs kick off this Wednesday.
 
After going 12-10 during regular season play, the Marauders have earned the eight-seed in the conference, garnering the squad a home game against division rivals, the Brock Badgers, who are tied on record and hold the nine-seed for these playoffs.
 
Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday night at the Burridge Gym, and all the action can be seen live on OUA.tv.
 
With the top four seeds receiving automatic births to the quarterfinals, seeds five through 12 will battle for the chance to move on to the next round of playoff action. In knockout stage style, the winner of Wednesday night's first-round game between the Marauders and Badgers will go on to face the top-seeded Carleton Ravens.
 
The Marauders come into the match-up having swept their season series against the Badgers, defeating the St. Catharines squad by a narrow 74-72 score on the road in October, and taking a convincing 81-64 win at home a month later. Second-year guard Jordan Henry averaged 24 points in the series, while Connor Gilmore dropped a pair of double-doubles going for 13 points and 10 rebounds on the road, and 18 points and 12 boards at home.
 
After setting the league ablaze going 8-2 in their opening 10 games, the Marauders battled through the remainder of their season, ultimately dropping eight of their last 12, five of which, however, were within single digits.
 
Meanwhile the Badgers played their best stretch of basketball throughout January towards the end of the season, going 8-4 in their final 12 games, ultimately closing their year with losses to the Ottawa Gee-Gees, and the top-ranked Carleton Ravens on the road.
 
Hitting the court for his second postseason trip in as many seasons, Henry continues to dominate the OUA offensively, currently ranked fourth in the league in points per game, averaging a career-high 23.. For the Badgers, Daniel Cayer continues to dominate the boards, grabbing a career-high 10.1 rebounds per game – the fourth best mark in the OUA.
 
The Marauders made it past the first-round of the playoffs last season, ultimately falling in the quarterfinal stages, and will look to build on last season's success with goals set on a deeper run this postseason.