The Lancer Men's Basketball team went 1-2 at the annual House Laughton Hoops Classic last weekend in Ottawa, Ontario.

 

Windsor won the first game of the tournament, coming from behind to defeat the Victoria Vikes 74-64 on Friday night.

 

Second year Lien Phillip finished the tournament with 36 points and 40 rebounds and was named a tournament all-star.

 

The Vikes were the first to take the scoreboard, with a two a minute into the first quarter. Victoria continued to outshoot the Lancers, who had trouble getting the ball to drop. The end of the first saw the Vikes leading 18-3.

 

The beginning of the second saw much of the same, but Windsor's hustle in both ends in the second half of the quarter paid off as they shrank the Vikes' lead to 36-32 at halftime.

 

Windsor brought the pressure in the third, bringing the score to a one-point lead for the Vikes. After Monty Hardware drained his two, the Lancers took their first lead of the game, 44-43. Victoria stayed in the game however, with two Vikes hitting one of two at the line with a little more than two to go.

 

Hardware made a three-point play with 15 seconds to go, giving Windsor a two-point lead. With the Vikes only able to score one at the line with little time to go, the quarter ended 47-46 in Windsor's favour.

 

Windsor continued to bring the energy, stretching their lead to five, two minutes into the fourth. The Vikes held on though, and a three from Jeff Cullen made it a one-point game. The Lancers answered with a three of their own and were able to hold on to the lead until the final whistle.

 

Lien Philip played a big role in his team's win, sinking a game-high 26 points. Hardware and Isaac Kuon also reached double digits with 17 and 16 points respectively.

 

The Lancers then faced the host Carleton Ravens on Saturday night at the Ravens' Nest. The host team defeated the Lancers 76-61.

 

The Ravens went on a 13-point run to open the game, and denied the Lancers access to the scoreboard until midway through the first quarter when Issac Kuon hit his first of the day. Windsor improved over the later portion of the quarter and narrowed the Ravens lead to 22-13 to close out the quarter.

 

Windsor started the second quarter strong, temporarily shrinking the Ravens lead, but a strong Carleton push midway through the quarter put the Ravens up 41-24 at the half.

 

Windsor started to come back in the third and eventually worked the Ravens lead down to only five in the fourth quarter. However, the Ravens refused to back down and eventually took the game.

 

Monty Hardware led the Lancers with 21 points thanks to some hot fourth quarter shooting.

 

In the final game of the tournament, the Lancers faced the McGill Redman on Sunday afternoon. Despite a strong effort, Windsor was unable to come away with the win, falling 77-69.

Windsor had trouble on the offensive end to open the game and fell behind by ten late in the opening quarter. The Lancers did find more success near the end of the quarter and closed the Redman lead to seven to end the frame.

 

Up 41-27 heading into the third quarter, McGill took a 20-point lead on the Lancers. Windsor managed to shorten the deficit, but it wasn't enough to overtake McGill, who went into the final quarter up 59-43.

 

The Lancers had a strong comeback in the fourth and after Isaac Kuon completed a 3-point play, the game was all tied up 69-69. With seconds to go, McGill found success at the foul line and ended the game with a 77-69 win.

 

Windsor will head down to Lima, Ohio this Friday to face the University of Northwestern Ohio at 7:00pm.