THUNDER BAY, ON: Down 11 points with under four minutes to play, the Waterloo Warriors closed the game on a 21-6 run to beat the Lakehead Thunderwolves 79-75 last weekend. It was Waterloo's first win in Thunder Bay in nine years.
Isaiah McRae was unstoppable. The guard poured in 37 points on 12-of-18 shooting, hitting 5 of 8 from three and 8 of 10 at the line, with 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals. He scored 16 of those points in the fourth quarter, including the go-ahead three with 38 seconds left.
Stefan Prica (Etobicoke, ONT/New Horizon) added 18 points and 4 assists and iced the game at the free throw line, going 4-for-4 in the final 15 seconds.
Waterloo came out sharp, scoring the first four points on layups from Cristian Craciun (Ancaster, ONT/Bishop Tonnos) and McRae. Lakehead answered on the offensive glass, with Jorge Alonso Hernandez scoring twice on tip-ins, and the teams traded the lead through the first quarter. Prica's three with 1:13 left gave the Warriors a 16-14 lead after one.
The bench kept the momentum going early in the second. Ross Pockar (Calgary, ALB/Edge School) hit a three and finished a layup off feeds from Okezi Urefe (Langley, ONT/Holy Cross Regional Secondary School), and Waterloo pushed ahead 23-19. Lakehead tied it at 25 midway through the quarter before McRae took over. He scored all 15 of Waterloo's points over the final 3:40 of the half, starting with a steal and layup and finishing with a three at the buzzer that sent Waterloo to the locker room up 40-32.
The Thunderwolves came out of the break firing and won the third quarter 28-10. After McRae's layup put Waterloo up 46-44 with 4:34 left in the quarter, Lakehead ripped off 16 straight points. Jorge Alonso Hernandez, Nishaan Singh, Marcos Alonso Hernandez and Chidube Ekwommadu all hit threes during the run, and Ekwommadu's triple with 45 seconds left made it 60-46, Lakehead's biggest lead of the night.
Prica and Moses Anvari (Ajax, ONT/Bill Crothers) scored late in the quarter to cut it to 60-50 heading to the fourth.
Waterloo chipped away early in the fourth but still trailed 69-58 after a Singh three with 3:43 to go. That is when the Warriors' defence and McRae took over.
McRae answered right away with a three. On the next Lakehead possession, Prica came up with a steal and buried a three of his own to make it 69-64. McRae went 2-for-2 at the line, then converted a layup through contact and hit the free throw to tie the game 69-69 with 2:02 left.
Ekwommadu put Lakehead back in front with two free throws, but Waterloo refused to give up the possession. Anvari and Craciun each grabbed an offensive rebound on the same trip, and McRae made them count with a three for a 72-71 lead with 1:04 remaining.
Ekwommadu answered with a jumper to retake the lead at 73-72. Out of a Waterloo timeout, McRae drilled another three with 38 seconds left to put the Warriors up 75-73. Pockar grabbed the rebound on Lakehead's next miss, and Prica made four straight free throws in the final 15 seconds to seal it.
Waterloo outscored Lakehead 29-15 in the fourth quarter and finished the game with a 21-6 run. The game had 12 lead changes and three ties.
Waterloo won with shooting and composure, hitting 42.9 percent from three and 12 of 14 free throws. Lakehead won the glass 42-32, including 16 offensive rebounds, but shot 11-of-36 from deep and 10-of-20 at the line.
Pockar was efficient again off the bench, going 4-of-5 with 7 rebounds in 22 minutes, and Marcus Wilson (Miramichi, NB/Moncton High School) handed out 3 assists in 9 minutes. Elijah Idehen (Milton, ONT/Fort Erie International Academy) added 2 blocks in the frontcourt.
The win snaps a nine-year drought in Thunder Bay and shows a group that can stay together when a road game turns against them.
