Marauders upset the Ryerson Rams

Don’t call it an upset; they’ve been here for years.

McMaster took down the No. 4 ranked Ryerson Rams, 74-64 to earn one of the most important victories the program has seen since defeating Windsor in the 2012 playoffs.

The reason it’s not an upset though, is because this is exactly what the team is capable of.

“We definitely thought they were a beatable team,” said Nathan Pelech, a fifth-year forward.

And McMaster backed that belief out of the gate, finishing the first quarter up 21-18 – capped off with a Pelech buzzer-beating three.

McMaster would “weather the storm” Ryerson threw at them in the, as the fifth-year put it, and then put on a fourth quarter run behind seven straight Joe Rocca points.

An important note about the victory was who made up the minutes.

Taylor Black had two fouls with 3:41 left in the first quarter, forcing him to sit until half.

Nathan McCarthy did not play either game this weekend as he recovers from a concussion.

After beating the No. 4 Rams by a double-digit margin, McMaster looked ahead to the weekly CIS rankings to see where, and if, they would fall among them.

The Marauders received votes, but not enough to put them in the top-ten.

Some players were surprised, but the veteran Pelech understands that it’s still early.

“Coming off a big win like that, you’d like to have some recognition. If we have two good weekends in a row, that will speak for itself,” said Pelech, who also pointed to an up-and-down preseason that.

Head coach Amos Connolly told the team after the game that he was “proud of them and happy for them”.

“I think the guys saw what happens when you work hard. As a team, they played with a confidence level and a trust in each other,” said Connolly. “It was a well-deserved win.”

What particularly stood out to the coaching staff was the defense.

Aaron Best, a player who averaged 15.3 points per game in 2012-13 and lit McMaster up for 34 points, was held to five points.

Jahmal viagra online Jones, another Ram with offensive gifts, scored 18 points on 6-15 field goal shooting but turned the ball over seven times.

“We had a couple periods of time where we kept [Ryerson] virtually scoreless. That’s what I’m happiest with – holding his team to 64,” said Connolly.

McMaster gave the home crowd a glimpse into the ceiling of this game.

They played tough and remained calm when Ryerson made their inevitable runs.

Leon Alexander put the clamps down on defense while getting under the Rams’ skin – including forcing an ejection of Yannick Walcott by playing physical in the paint.

Following the game, the team’s spirits were high.

The Monday practice was not the best effort, but the team rebounded the following day after realizing how far they have to go.

This weekend, McMaster takes on a team that received more votes than them for the top-ten but also did not qualify for the rankings in the Laurentian Voyageurs.

The Vees have opened the season 2-0 and have not missed a beat after losing Manny Pasquale.

After the trip to Sudbury, Ont., they’ll head to Sault Ste. Marie to play the Algoma Thunderbirds.

Despite it being their first weekend in OUA conference competition, Algoma earned a low-scoring victory over the Waterloo Warriors.

They lost to Laurier, putting them at 1-1.

The interlock periods have increased importance as they battle with ranked Windsor for top spot in the OUA West.

Starting out 2-0 was ideal, but now Mac looks to go 4-0.

If there we see a similar performance to the Ryerson match, an undefeated record is entirely possible.