Saturday evening brought the McMaster Marauders into their second matchup of the weekend, this time taking on the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks. With both teams having strong  seasons behind them in their respective OUA divisions, fans knew this would bring a tight matchup. Unfortunately for the Marauders, the home team in the Ridgebacks snuck out the win 85-72.

For the Marauders, AY Osunde led the Maroon in scorers with 22, in his 30 minutes of court time. Senior Nathan Charles whipped up an impressive double-double: with 21 points, Charles was just one point shy of a career tie, while simultaneously securing a career high of 19 rebounds. He also forced seven turnovers. Moody Qasim joined the two in double figures hitting 10 points.

After Ontario Tech opened with an early bucket, McMaster orchestrated a 7-0 run to take the lead. The first quarter continued with a few exchanges of the lead, however the Ridgebacks slipped through the cracks to top the Marauders by three points heading into the second.

The second brought some challenges for the Marauders. Caught in a drought going 1-for-six, Patrick Tatum called a time out to give the squad a regroup. Maximizing on this, Ontario Tech found the way to grow their lead to 9, heading into the half. Despite the setbacks, over the first two quarters the Marauders out-rebounded their counterparts 20 to 16, while forcing double the turnovers with 8, and losing Elijah Bethune to an injury. 

Once the Ridgebacks started building their cushion, particularly in the fourth quarter, they attempted to slow down the game. On the other hand the Marauders started gunning for a comeback and went on a 14-5 run to cut down the Ridgebacks' lead to 10. With minutes remaining and many key players nearing foul out territory, the coaching staff had to make strategic calls to increase the odds. With the fear of foul calls, there was slight hesitation to the Marauders' well known attacking defense, posing an additional struggle. Notwithstanding outscoring their opponents in the final quarter, the Marauders couldn't find the luck in the last plays, and the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks' walked away with the game.

What's Next?

The Marauders return to Burridge for their annual Shoot for the Cure game on January 17th. Come support the Marauders as they face off against the Guelph Gryphons. Tip off is set for 6pm.