The Windsor Lancer men's basketball team fell to the Waterloo Warriors (70-61) and Guelph Gryphons (104-83) this weekend in their first outings of 2024.

FRIDAY STATS
An impressive half of the players who hit the floor saw double figures on Friday night, with Quinn Carey, Xavier Ochu, Yohann Sam, and Daniel Cummings adding 15, 14, 14, and 10 points respectively. Quinn Carey had a standout performance, not only topping the points for the blue and gold but going 7 for 7 at the charity line.

While Windsor outdid the Warriors on the free throw line, shooting 84.2% over 68.4%, the Warriors would ultimately come out on top, shooting 39.4% over Windsor's 27.9% on the field and outdoing the Lancers 21-7 in the final quarter of play.

HOW IT HAPPENED FRIDAY
The blue and gold came out of the gate hungry, leading by 1 over the Warriors at the end of the first quarter. The close contest continued in the second, each side adding 17 points to their score, leaving the Lancers leading by 1 point after the first half.
The third quarter saw Windsor continue to bring the heat, outscoring Waterloo 22-18. The Warriors would not be outdone, however, battling from behind to take a 2-point lead with less than 5 minutes left in the game. Fans then witnessed the Warriors take control of the floor in the final minutes, closing the game with a 70-61 victory.

SATURDAY STATS
Fans saw a similar scene to Friday night, where 4 players again hit double figures for the Lancers: Yohann Sam (18), Denzel Cummins (17), Xavier Ochu (15), and Anthony Mensah (10). On the night the men went 40% from the field and 74.2% from the charity line. Windsor totaled 11 steals, 24 rebounds, and 46 points in the paint.

HOW IT HAPPENED SATURDAY
Guelph had fire under their feet in front of their home crowd in the first half, putting the Lancers at a 19-point deficit going into halftime. Although the blue and gold would outwork the Gryphons 32-23 in the third, the Gryphons denied the Lancers a chance to get back in the game, hitting a triple digit score in the final minutes.

UP NEXT
The men return to Windsor next weekend for back-to-back home games against the TMU Bold Friday and Toronto Varsity Blues Saturday, each at 8pm. Tickets for the game are available in advance at GoLancers.ca/tickets. For those unable to attend in person at the Toldo Lancer Centre, the game will also be streamed on OUA.tv.

Saturay is also Breast Cancer Awareness Day and commemorative t-shirts will be for sale at the game for just $15. Proceeds from the event will be donated to the Canadian Cancer Society.