Windsor Lancers

The Windsor Lancer men's basketball team lost their home opener to the York Lions Friday night (Oct. 30) at the Toldo Lancer Centre 73-65.
 
Game Flow
Behind a ruckus crowd, the Lancers got off to a blistering start with an 18-10 run in the first 7:24, led by Faculty of Engineering sophomore Marodama Benjamin scoring nine of his 18 points in this stretch and third-year guard Yashar Greaves-Saadat adding two assists, two rebounds, and two steals throughout the quarter.
 
However, as the game went on, the Lions' roar got louder and louder. Following halftime, for example, after both teams scored 18 points each in the second quarter to bring the score to 39-36 Windsor, York limited the Lancers to just nine points in the third quarter defensively while scoring 15 of their own.
 
The visitors ultimately saved their best for the end of the game, too, scoring 22 of their 73 points in the final frame to record their second win of the young season. Daren Clarke (8) and Zion Messam (9) contributed 17 of these 22 points in order to hold off Luke Grace scoring seven.
 
Stats
Zion Messam was the best player on the winning side Friday night, contributing a team-high 14 points and three steals off the bench while adding three assists in the process. Daren Clarke (12), Josiah McKnight (11), and Ladainian James (10) joined Messam as players who recorded double-digit point totals on York.
 
For the blue and gold, meanwhile, Yashar Greaves-Saadat led the way for Windsor by scoring a game-high 19 points, nine of which came from a perfect three-point conversion rate. Marodama Benjamin (17) and Luke Grace (13) combined for 30 points, too.
 
With the loss, the Lancers snapped their four-game home winning streak versus the Lions.
 
Up Next
Windsor will host the Waterloo Warriors on Saturday, October 31st at 6:00 p.m. before a four-game road trip at TMU, the Univ. of Toronto, Queen's, and Ontario Tech from November 6-14.
 
Tickets are available for purchase at golancers.ca/tickets, or you can watch online at oua.tv.