The No. 10 Windsor Lancer men's basketball team defeated the Guelph Gryphons 93-74 at the Toldo Lancer Centre Saturday afternoon in OUA quarterfinal action. The Lancers took control of the game early and maintained control throughout.
 
The Lancers entered the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the OUA and held form in the quarter finals, punching their ticket to the OUA semi-finals with a well-rounded win.
 
STATS
Thomas Kennedy led all scorers with 20 points on the night. The Gryphons were paced by Emmanuel Ansah and Rasheed Weeks who had 18 each.
 
Kennedy (20pts.), Xavier Ochu (17pts.), Daniel Cummings (14pts), Nahjee Brown-Henderson (14pts.) and Lorenzo Barbieri (12pts) all scored in double digits.
 
Kennedy (11r), Ochu (4r), Cummings (4r), Brown-Henderson (4r), Barbieri (4r), Quinn Carey (6r) and Ziphion Grant (4r) all put forth great efforts on the glass, coming down with four or more rebounds each.
 
GAME FLOW
The blue and gold started off red hot as Lorenzo Barbieri hit his first two threes of the game and scored eight of the Lancers' first 10 points. Early in the first the Lancers rolled, going up six points when Nahjee Brown-Henderson threw a full court pass to Thomas Kennedy for a one handed flush. The Gryphons responded in kind though, cutting the deficit to five, and nailing back-to-back threes to take a 21-20 lead over Windsor into the second quarter. The Lancers responded midway through the second, tying the game at 35 and going on a 9-3 run to close out the half, leading 44-38 at the break.
 
The Lancers maintained their lead in the early going of the third, 51-44. Late in the third however, a Thomas Kennedy block led to a Daniel Cummings triple, immediately followed up by a Brown-Henderson triple; capping the run was an alley-oop from Barbieri to Kennedy, putting the Lancers up 60-48 and forcing the Gryphons into a timeout. Coming out of the timeout the Lancers kept their foot on the gas, going into the fourth quarter with a 66-58 lead. The Lancers held the Gryphons at bay throughout the fourth quarter, finding passing and driving lanes as needed. The Lancers had five different players score in double digits on route to a 93-74 win.
 
UP NEXT
The Lancers advance to the OUA semi-finals on Wednesday, March 1st in Ottawa. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.