\"WEAPON\" HELPS MAC WIN WEST
75-57 in the West Final to earn a berth in the Wilson Cup, presented by Investors Group, next Saturday at York University. Despite a lineup hit hard by various illnesses, No. 7 McMaster cranked up their defence to bounce the upstart Hawks from the OUA playoffs for its eighth straight win. Seniors Adam Steiner and Ben Katz paced the home team with 15 and 12 points respectively, while bruising forward Toms Lokmanis did a little bit of everything, scoring 11 points and adding game highs in rebounds (11) and steals (four) to earn RCA Player of the Game honours.
"The guys nicknamed him "˜The Weapon,'" said Mac head coach Joe Raso. "The nickname came when we were in Florida. He was one of the high draft picks on the team and the guys said, "˜He's The Weapon.' Toms can do some great things. He's just an incredible athlete."
Ten of Lokmanis's 11 rebounds came on the defensive glass and his energetic work inside the paint at both ends of the floor added more energy to a McMaster team that already had a confident look from the opening tip. Lokmanis finished a couple of plays in the first half to help establish a nice cushion and early in the second, he acrobatically hung in the air to draw a foul for a three-point opportunity, though he missed the free throw. Later in the half, the Toronto, ON native made one of his four steals and drove to the hoop to give Mac its biggest lead of the game to that point at 64-49.
"Every game the coaches prepare us for defence," said Lokmanis "We watch a lot of film, we do a lot of work on them, we know what they're going to run. That's our key emphasis - every game, we just go in and play hard defence and the offence will come. We've got players like Katz, (Justin) Gunter, Obs (John Obrovac). All of them can put up numbers so if we play defence, we're good."
The Marauders did step it up on the defensive end and did so without guard Martin Ajayi for a good portion of the game. The two-time reigning West Defensive Player of the Year was obviously fired up for the match-up with the Hawks but he got into early foul trouble and sat for much of the opening 20 minutes. Ajayi came right out and hit the first bucket of the second with a mid-range jumper and then sunk a pair of free throws to establish a 12-point McMaster lead. He eventually fouled out after hacking Laurier guard Wade Currie but Raso credited the fiery guard for giving the team an early lift after the Hawks went into half-time down just seven.
"I sat him a long time and he came back in the second half and he was our spark," said Raso.
Different players carried Mac throughout the game, despite a flu bug that hit the team. Katz made some important buckets early, including one of the Marauders four three-pointers, and then added some key steals in the second with Laurier pushing to make a run. Steiner established his presence inside with some early baskets, while Obrovac ignited the team late with his deft touch from the outside, finishing the game with 10 points.
"I think we had five or six guys average over eight points a game this year," said Katz. "All year long, someone's stepped up but it was good tonight that everyone showed up at the same time and I think it showed with the balanced scoring."
Laurier's thrilling post-season run finally came to an end after manufacturing as pair of surprising victories on the road. The Hawks, seeded sixth in the West playoffs, eliminated the Guelph Gryphons 81-74 in the opening round and then pulled off a huge upset in knocking out the second-seeded Brock Badgers in St. Catharines. But they went cold for a long stretch in the first half and had a terrible shooting night altogether, hitting just 19 of their 55 field goal attempts (34.5 per cent, including just 2-for-12 from three-point range) , while also missing 10 of their 27 free throws. Forward Rob Innes, who took a shot to the face and suffered a cut over his left eye, finished with a team-high 11 points. Bert Riviere chipped in eight points and 10 rebounds, while point guard Omar Miles scored nine on the night.
"First half was tough, but we hung in there," said Miles. "We were able to come back with some key turnovers. But in the second half, we weren't as successful finishing our lay-ups and hitting the open shots. We missed a lot of threes and made some stupid turnovers. That's what ended up kicking our butt in the end."
Miles said that Laurier head coach Peter Campbell had stressed the need to play a full 40 minutes against the powerful Marauders but the Hawks' intensity sagged when Mac came out firing in the second. It's a lesson Laurier will take to Halifax next week at Nationals.
"We know we're not going to be seeded the highest," said Miles. "We're the underdogs but we know we have a good team. We're a veteran team and we can only surprise people. We need to compete. Tonight, we didn't come with that 100 per cent effort."
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(Photo: Mac senior Ben Katz battles for a rebound in the Marauders' 75-57 West Final win over Laurier.)