By Trae Dieye

The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s basketball team extended their pre-season winning streak to four games in style, beating the George Brown College Huskies 108-48 on Tuesday at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC).

With students from D’Arcy McGee Catholic School filling up the stands on a school trip, TMU head coach David DeAveiro’s team put on a sensational defensive performance, putting up 54 points off turnovers and limiting the Huskies to 34.9 per cent a field goal percentage collectively.

“We have the ability to be a good defensive team and dictate what teams do offensively,” said DeAveiro postgame. “We really focused on getting [George Brown] to turn [the ball] over, being efficient in transition and scoring easy buckets off our defence.”

Second-year guard Saevion Brown set the tone early with four points, four assists and two steals as TMU went on a 15-2 run to end the first quarter 33-10 and never looked back.

The team would immediately extend their lead to 29 entering the second quarter off two consecutive turnovers with third-year forward Roland Okeugo finishing both layups in transition.

TMU kept up the pace for the rest of the game, outscoring George Brown by 10 or more points every quarter as the team shot over 50 per cent from the field and 84 per cent from the free throw line, attacking the paint early and often, and capitalizing on mismatches to draw fouls as the game progressed.

A backcourt rotation of second-year guards Landon Wright and Greg Angelakos, Brown, and Okeugo would hound the Huskies’ guards for the rest of the contest, accounting for 14 of TMU’s 27 total steals.

Team depth was key for the Bold, with four separate double-digit scorers coming off the bench for TMU and the rotation counting for 75 of the team’s 108 points by the final buzzer.

With two more exhibition games this weekend ahead of the Naismith Classic and the start of the regular season later this month, an exciting win without veteran players like reigning Ontario University Athletics MVP fifth-year guard Aaron Rhooms in the lineup highlights the potential of this team as they build fitness and confidence during this pre-season.

UP NEXT: The Bold prepare for their matchup against the Dalhousie University Tigers at the MAC this Friday. Tip-off is at 7:00 p.m.