TORONTO, Ont. – The Western Mustangs men’s basketball team lost for the fifth consecutive outing Saturday night, this time falling 87-76 on the road to the Ryerson Rams (2-4) at Kerr Hall Gymnasium.
The Rams jumped on the Mustangs (1-5) early, and came out of the first quarter with a commanding 28-15 lead.
Ryan Barbeau closed the deficit to six points with 1:20 left in the second period, but a jumper by Jordon Gauthier sent Ryerson into the half with a 46-38 lead.
A trio of buckets by Barbeau and a jumper by
Greg Morrow brought the Mustangs to within two points four minutes into the third quarter, but the Rams didn’t let Western get a lead. In fact, the only lead the Mustangs held all game was a 3-2 advantage less than a minute into the contest.
Barbeau and
Peter Scholtes led the Mustangs offensively once again Saturday night, scoring 21 points apiece. Scholtes also added five rebounds and a team-high nine assists.
Ryan Higgins had 17 points, knocking down a game-high four three-pointers.
Jelane Pryce was the top scorer for Ryerson, tallying 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Ola Adegboruwa and Jordon Gauthier had 18 points each. Gauthier notched a double-double with 11 rebounds.
The Mustangs were outshot 47.6% to 42.9% overall, and 46.2% to 39.1% from three-point range. However, Higgins continued his impressive run from beyond the arc. In fact, through six games, the rookie is leading the OUA (and is second in the CIS) with a 3-pt. percentage of 66.7%. His 14 three-pointers are tied for sixth in the conference.
With his 21 points Saturday night, Barbeau is now averaging 19.83 points per game this season, second-best in the OUA. Meanwhile, the fifth-year senior is just 26 points shy of 1,000 for his Mustangs career. He’ll hope to reach that milestone when Western returns home next weekend.
The Mustangs’ (1-5) next action is at home on Friday, Dec. 2 at 12:15 p.m. against the Queen’s Gaels (0-5) at Alumni Hall. For tickets,
click here. That game will also available via Live Stream at:
http://www.ssncanada.ca/game/2956
