Mac splits opening week

By: Jaycee Cruz

On Wednesday, January 7, 2014 the McMaster Marauders men’s basketball team hosted the Laurier Golden Hawks.

Laurier surprised the crowd by going punch-for-punch with Mac for the first part of the first quarter. The Marauders ended up grabbing the lead and held onto it bringing a 41-37 lead into halftime.

The main source of the Golden Hawks offensive firepower was fourth-year guard Will Coulthard. Coulthard was shooting at will from all over the floor and hit his peak after converting a rare 4-point play. Coulthard ended the half with 18 points and finished the game with 22. Second-year guard Trevon McNeil was instrumental in slowing down the Golden Hawk shooter.

McMaster had four players in double figures with Taylor Black scoring 18, Rohan Boney scoring 11, and Aaron Redpath and Joe Rocca scoring 16 apiece.

Mac shot a respectable 44.4 percent from the field but a cold 15.4 percent from 3-point range. The Marauders dominated the Golden Hawks in terms of points in the paint, outscoring Laurier 50-24.

Despite Laurier making the game closer than expected, Mac slowly but surely pulled away from the pesky Golden Hawks, winning 85-75.

This past Saturday the McMaster men’s basketball team took a road trip to the Mattamy Athletic Centre inside the old Maple Leaf Gardens to play the No. 3 Ryerson Rams. McMaster and Ryerson both entered the game with seven wins and two losses.

The two teams played each other close in the first half with the Marauders taking a 43-40 lead into the halftime break. McMaster escaped the half with a lead, but the scoring seemed unsustainable: Rocca banked in a fading three, Redpath nailed a deep, contested three and Presutti cashed in a pull up long-range attempt with two defenders nearby.

The Rams grabbed the lead from Marauders in the third quarter and never looked back. Ryerson carried that momentum into the fourth and outscored McMaster 32-17 en route to a convincing 98-78 win on their home court.

All five Ryerson starters scored in double figures. Rams guard Aaron Best dropped a game-high 30 points on 11-for-13 shooting from the field and 6-for-7 from 3-point range.

McMaster had three players score in double digits. Aaron Redpath, Joe Rocca, and Adam Presutti contributed 20, 17, and 14 respectively.

The loss adds a bit more separation between the fourth-ranked Marauders and the third-ranked Rams.

Up ahead for the Marauders this weekend are two road games at Laurentian on Friday and at Nipissing in North Bay on Saturday.

Two wins on the road will be good for this Marauders team looking to get back on track after a small setback.