On Friday night the Warriors men's basketball team made the trip across University Ave. to face the Laurier Golden Hawks in what was a must-win game for the black and gold. Justin Gunter's squad delivered with a complete team effort while getting a brilliant effort from their starting point guard in an 85-74 victory to close out the calendar year.  

Simon Petrov (Waterloo/Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary) has been brilliant in his last six games, reaching double digits in all of those contests, and tonight he earned a career high in points with 30, leading his team to their third win of the season. Petrov went 11-of-23 from the field while hitting seven of his nine free throw attempts. 

"It was an excellent road win to end the first term," said Justin Gunter. "Simon really stepped up for us while we got great contributions from the whole roster."

Other Warriors stepped up big in this match as Waterloo lost Nedim Hodzic (Waterloo/Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary) to injury midway through the opening half. David Ramon Prados (Madrid/Virgen de Atocha (North Platte College)) put up 13 points and six rebounds while Justin Malnerich (Cambridge/St. Benedict's Catholic Secondary School) came off the bench to log big minutes, tallying 14 in the win.  

Evan Rodenburg (Cambridge/St. Benedict's Catholic Secondary School) was also put into a bigger role in this match and stepped up big time with eight points in his 11 minutes of action while playing a big factor on the boards, collecting a game high seven rebounds. 

"Evan gave us a great 11 minutes in the second half which was the boost we really needed," mentioned Gunter. 

Two other Warriors, Jeff Baradziej (Grimsby/Wasatch Academy (Utah)) and Justin Hardy (Waterloo/Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary) also chipped in on the offence with eight points each. 

Waterloo was big from beyond the arc knocking down 10 compared to six from the Hawks. The Warriors also hit 15 free throw's to Laurier's 12.

With the win the Warriors improved to 3-7 while Laurier fell to the same mark. Both are tied for fifth in the OUA west standings.