By Brady Locke
The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s basketball team came out on the wrong side of a hard-fought battle against the McMaster Marauders at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) on Saturday night, falling 76-72.
The Bold re-entered their building with some confidence after coming out of a win against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in Metro Hoops Classic action on Wednesday. They have been dominant at home with a 7-2 record thus far and eyed win number eight in front of the home crowd.
The Marauders, on the other hand, were looking to start the final stretch of their season on a high note. With a 3-14 record entering the contest and a 0-9 record on the road, they were hopeful they could catch the Bold napping. Despite being last in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Central division, the Marauders grabbed their first away win of the season.
“This is a young inexperienced group, we’re going to have nights like this where we are just unable to finish games,” said Bold head coach David DeAveiro.
McMaster brought the energy early, looking hungry to prove themselves as their high pressure on defence led to some quick buckets and a 5-2 lead. This became an apparent trend throughout the entire game.
Fourth-year Bold guard Aaron Rhooms took matters into his own hands needing to settle down his squad and get them back in control. He rose and knocked down a mid-range jumper—one of his specialties—to give him eight first-quarter points and the Bold a 14-10 lead.
Nonetheless, the Marauders kept their energy up and pressure high, as they wouldn’t go away and just kept hanging around. At the end of the first, TMU had a slim 20-13 lead in what was a defensive battle on both sides of the ball.
Graduate guard Daniel Graham kicked off the second quarter with a deep three, causing DeAveiro to call a timeout to get his troops rallied as the lead was cut down to four.
Coming out of the timeout, the gameplan seemed to come into play, as fourth-year forward Aidan Wilson hit two back-to-back free throw line jumpers on ensuing possessions to put some separation between the two teams. Another factor was Wilson’s work on the glass, swallowing up three rebounds in the quarter.
The story of the second quarter, however, centred on first-year Bold guard Kevin Toth. He started the quarter off with an athletic layup over second-year forward Riaz Saliu, then topped it off with a surgical pass slicing through the defence—one of his seven assists on the night.
In the final seconds of the half, second-year guard Gabriel Gutsmore drove the lane hard, taking all the contact and making the layup plus the foul. At this point, TMU seemed to be playing the all-around basketball we have become accustomed to this season with a 42-29 lead at half. However, one of the biggest parts of their game was nowhere to be found, as they shot 0-11 from beyond the arc.
Going into the second half, the Marauders were desperate for any way back into the contest, while the Bold simply wanted to play their game and take care of business.
Right out of the gates, third-year guard Javier Gilgeous-Glasgow hit a long mid-range jumper to start the recipe of what TMU was looking to cook up in the second half. McMaster had other plans.
Staying strong in their defensive game plan of physicality and quickness, the Marauders’ stampede quickly became a big issue for the Bold in the third quarter.
“They cranked up their defence, got more physical and more athletic,” said DeAveiro. “We harped on being able to run our half-court offence against that type of defence but we’re not ready to do that yet.”
Back-to-back steals led to two huge transition baskets for the Marauders and just like that, the lead was cut to eight. The big man in the middle, third-year Brendan Amoyaw was causing all sorts of problems for TMU. Cleaning up all the rebounds on both ends and putting back layup after layup, Amoyaw finished the game with a team-high of 14 points and five rebounds. This led the Bold to burn another timeout.
The timeout didn’t seem to help as DeAveiro’s squad went stagnant on offence. McMaster was finally able to string several baskets together and the lead evaporated.
Graduate guard Mike Demagus tied the game up at 54 apiece to end the third quarter.
It was evident that there was work to be done for both sides in the fourth quarter, trying to get the edge in the hard-fought contest. Trading buckets early, neither team could pull away.
Midway through the quarter knotted at 62 points, graduate forward Moody Qasim took advantage of a mismatch with Toth, making no mistake turning a post-up into a fadeaway bucket. A few possessions later on the defensive end, Demagus took a huge charge, which led to yet another timeout from the Bold. McMaster extended the lead to five, their biggest of the game.
With time winding down, Rhooms wasn’t going down without a fight. He hit another one of his signature mid-range shots to cut the lead to two, while back on the defensive end, the Bold shut down the Marauders.
As the final minute approached, there was only one man who could have the ball in the clutch. Rhooms—who has earned the nickname “Rhoom Service” over the years for such play in crunch time—hit yet another no-doubt mid-range jumper to tie the game up and add to his game-high 28 points.
The teams then traded huge threes in the clutch, beginning with one from third-year Marauders guard Tyler Garcia then matched by Rhooms. This was only the third three-pointer of the night for the Bold on 24 shots, good for a 12.5 per cent performance from beyond the arc.
“We didn’t make a three in the first half. I don’t know what we shot but [Rhooms] probably made them all,” said DeAveiro.
Rhooms hit two three-pointers, while first-year guard Maxime Louis-Jean had the other.
After McMaster got fouled, Demagus headed to the line for the chance to take the lead. After missing the first, he made the second, giving TMU the chance to take the lead with 22 seconds left.
With the game on the line, Gilgeous-Glasgow took the ball up the court where he was stopped on his drive attempt down the lane. As McMaster grabbed the loose ball, Rhooms had no choice but to foul and send Demagus right back to the line.
This time he made no mistake, hitting both free throws and extending the lead to three with 10 seconds to play. TMU took a timeout to draw up a play to get Rhooms the ball to try and send the game to overtime.
Rhooms got the ball off the screen coming around the corner, squared up, rose and let the ball go, barely missing the basket. Just like that time expired and McMaster escaped with an important victory over the Bold.
McMaster got their first win on the road and TMU was left with a loss in their second last home game of the season. A team that has had close games all season long again saw the result not go their way.
“We just don’t have a lot of mature guys on the floor, except for [Rhooms], at the end of games,” said DeAveiro.
The Bold wore their “Bold, Beautiful and Brilliant” shirts for Black History Month before the game and on the bench.
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