LONDON, Ont – Outscoring the Nipissing Lakers 26-8 in the first ten minutes, the Western Mustangs established a lead they wouldn't relinquish on their way to a 75-43 win on Friday night at Alumni Hall.
 
"Defensively we were solid, we got off to a really good start," said Western head coach Brad Campbell. "Some defensive intensity and energy really helped our offence, especially in the first half. Pete [Scholtes] did a nice job denying some of their big guys that try to go inside and keeping us out of rotation. Greg was a monster tonight. He did it all, scored in various ways and was outstanding."
 
"I thought we really played well as a team," said Greg Morrow, who led all players with 34 points. "Lately we've been playing well on defence, coming out with a lot of aggression and forcing the other team to make turnovers."
 
Morrow's game-leading scoring efforts came off of 15-for-21 shooting with another four points coming from the free throw line. Alex Coote followed with 11 points, while Anthony Spiridis contributed 10 points in the victory. Peter Scholtes led the team on the glass with six rebounds and Morrow followed with five of his own, showing again that he's a force to beat all around the court.
 
Marcus Lewis led the Lakers with 17 points, seven of which were scored the third frame. Michael Angenent and Jordan Roberts recorded six points each for the Lakers. Lewis was a versatile player around the court, also grabbing an impressive 12 rebounds in Friday's contest to record a double-double.
 
The Mustangs kicked off the game on a high note, going on a 13-0 run to start the game, giving them a lead they would maintain throughout the contest. Morrow, who's game-opening dunk started a roar in the crowd, contributed 14 points in the opening frame and two steals to help Western go up 26-8 after one.
 
Western's defence established itself as one of the team's strong suits on Friday, grabbing rebounds to limit the Lakers second chance points, and pressing Nipissing's shooters to use the entire shot clock to look for scoring opportunities. Limiting the Lakers offence to only nine points in the frame, the Mustangs took a 45-17 lead into halftime.
 
It was more of the same in the second half, with the Mustangs defence staying strong and keeping the home side in the lead. The Lakers did find increased success in the second half, including outscoring Western 19-14 in the third quarter, however Western continued to control the game and walked away with a 75-43 win.
 
"Tomorrow is a new challenge" said Campbell in regards to Saturday's contest against Laurentian. "We want to stay confident and hopefully this game gives us some confidence. Tomorrow we've got to get back to work and make sure all those details are prepared. Hopefully in a back-to-back scenario we come out with the same energy we did to start the last game and have that attention to detail."
 
"We got to try to keep attacking and never let up" said Morrow. "There were a couple moments in this game where we eased off a little and saw Nipissing make some runs, we want to avoid that."
 
The Mustangs prepare for the latter half of their back-to-back weekend against the Laurentian Voyageurs on Saturday, February 6 at Alumni Hall. Tip-off is at 8:00 p.m. and can be watched live on OUA.tv.