By Finn Noel
The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s basketball team cruised to a 23-point victory on Saturday night in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) quarterfinals against the Western Mustangs, winning 101-78 in London, Ont.
With the victory, the Bold advanced to the OUA semi-finals to face the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, who defeated the Laurentian Voyageurs 81-50 on Saturday night. The Gee-Gees finished the regular season as the top team in the OUA with a 20-2 record, so the Bold will head to Montpetit Hall in Ottawa for the matchup.
The Bold came into the game against the Mustangs fresh off of a first round blowout win over the Guelph Gryphons, 89-63, on Wednesday night. The Mustangs were playing their first OUA playoff game, as their strong regular season record gave them the top spot in their division and a first-round bye.
The last time the two teams faced off, the Bold stormed their way to an epic 10-point comeback in the fourth quarter, winning the game 91-83. They looked for a similar outcome in this playoff matchup, held at Alumni Hall in London, Ont.
The story of the game for the Bold wasn’t on offense, however, but defence. The Mustangs turned the ball over 14 times to the Bold’s 8, which led to 21 points off turnovers for TMU. The stifling defence of the Bold came together to stop Western from taking any easy shots, and the result was a dominant win for TMU.
A lot of those turnovers came early in the game: each team committed two in just the first two minutes. Errant passes led to lots of transition basketball early, which the Bold capitalized on with three-pointers from fourth-year forward Aaron Rhooms and third-year guard Javier Gilgeous-Glasgow.
Gilgeous-Glasgow stayed hot in the first, shooting 3/3 from long range and extending the Bold’s lead to six points.
The Mustangs got their own hot start from third-year guard Noah Otshudi, showing off his tough shot-making and vision with five points and two assists in just the first five minutes of the game.
Otshudi’s teammates followed his lead and came together to give Western the lead. The 7-2 run was capped off by a fadeaway three from third-year guard Imran Armstrong that banked in to beat the buzzer. The crowd at Alumni Hall went wild and the Mustangs led at 23-20 at the end of the opening quarter.
Armstrong continued his stellar play with a corner three to start the second. He finished with 14 points in the game.
Rhooms fired back at the Mustangs, scoring baskets all over the paint and dumping it off to teammates for easy layups. As the third-ranked scorer in the nation, averaging 22 points per game on the season, Rhooms’ ability to put the ball in the basket had to be a factor for TMU in this game–and it was.
Later in the second quarter, a turnover seemed to create an easy transition basket for Otshudi, but fourth-year Bold center Aidan Wilson rushed from behind and pinned his layup on the glass, shocking the crowd at Alumni Hall. That block was one of two chasedowns in the game from the Bold’s leader in blocks per game this season.
The Bold’s defence—the fourth-best in the province with 68.8 points allowed per game—caused chaos, allowing them to create distance from the Mustangs. Multiple steals and blocks from Wilson and Rhooms gave the Bold a chance to extend the lead to 31-27.
That trend continued late into the second, as a block from Rhooms led into an open three for Gilgeous-Glasgow. On the next inbounds pass, he came out of nowhere to steal the ball and give the Bold another two points off of a wide-open layup.
Gilgeous-Glasgow would then go on to hit another three, capping off an eight-point personal run. He finished with 17 points at the half, which helped the Bold expand their lead to 14.
To start the second half, the Bold continued to pressure the Mustangs with their defensive efforts, then sink important shots. Multiple mid-range jump shots from Wilson ballooned the lead to 17.
As the third quarter creeped closer to its end, first-year guard Maxime Louis-Jean caught fire with back-to-back three-pointers. Those two threes brought him to 16 points in the quarter, and six threes in the game. He finished with 22 points in the game, showing off his shotmaking ability.
The Bold finished the third with a flashy no-look pass from first-year guard Kevin Toth that left the bouncy second-year forward Galand Okeugo wide open under the net for a dunk. Toth—who led the team with 4.6 assists per game during the regular season despite coming off of the bench—finished this game with six points, three assists and three rebounds in 16 minutes of play.
Entering the fourth quarter, the Bold led 73-54. With a bit of breathing room, they were able to make mistakes and still maintain a sizable lead.
Second-year Mustangs guard Mikyle Malabuyoc tried his absolute hardest to close the gap with a four-point run for Western, then the rest of the Mustangs’ roster followed his lead. Otshudi, Matteo Zagar and Lucas Sheets all drew fouls in the matter of a few minutes, getting to the free throw line for a ton of easy points in the quarter.
The Bold held their feet down, though, and kept the lead at 20. A spectacular jelly layup by Rhooms capped off his point total at 23 and killed the short-lived comeback from the Mustangs.
As the final buzzer sounded, TMU finished with 101 points—a feat they surpassed just twice in the regular season. Rhooms, Louis-Jean and Gilgeous-Glasgow all scored over 20 points to help reach the impressive mark.
UP NEXT: The Bold will play the Gee-Gees in the OUA semi-finals next Saturday, March 1, at Montpetit Hall.
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