By Raphael Chahinian
The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s basketball team squeezed out an exciting 83-78 victory over the McMaster Marauders on Saturday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC).
Going into the game head coach David DeAveiro said he was prepared for a tough matchup.
“We’re playing for playoff position, so we know that every game is going to be important and I told them that we’re playing a good team,” said DeAveiro.
The Bold came out of the gates struggling to create any offence for themselves due to the Marauders’ strong defensive movement. On the other hand, McMaster was shooting the lights out with three made three pointers and great inside shooting which led to them taking an 11 point lead early.
With just over five minutes left in the first quarter, the Bold went on an 11-2 run, capped off by second-year forward Aaron Rhooms making a turnaround jumper at the buzzer to tie the game at 20-20.
TMU rode the momentum into the second quarter where they jumped out to another huge run to take an 11 point lead of their own.
“We were just playing together and we know that we’re supposed to be in this position,” said Rhooms.
With a comfortable lead in hand, the Bold slowed down and the Marauders capitalized by scoring eight straight points. The first half came to an end with a final score of 39-36 in favour of TMU.
The second half started off strong with both teams trading buckets and an exclamation point dunk by the Marauders giving them a three point advantage. The Bold went on to tighten up their defence, which was anchored by third-year guard Lamar Everd.
“I love Lamar and I consider him one of our anchors on defence, when he’s going we all match his intensity,” said Rhooms.
The Marauders came out to a great start in the fourth, scoring a three and a transition dunk in back-to-back possessions. McMaster kept on slowly chipping away at TMU’s lead and with under a minute left, their full-court press led to TMU turning the ball over and being scored on making the score 79-76.
With the game on the line, Bold guard David Walker set up Rhooms with a perfect pass leading to the game clinching basket to make it a two-possession game. After two free throws made by third-year guard Ankit Choudhary, the game ended with a final score of 83-78 in favour of the Bold.
With TMU piling up the wins towards the end of the regular season, the team is preparing for a crucial matchup against Brock University next Friday.
“We love these challenges, we love playing against teams in the top 10 because we feel like we should be in the top 10 but we just have to be more consistent,” said DeAveiro.
UP NEXT: The Bold close out the regular season with a home-and-home against the Brock Badgers starting on Feb. 17. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. in St. Catharines Ont.
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