Mustangs vs. Waterloo Pre-View

Pre- View for Mustangs vs. Waterloo Wed. Jan. 27 8pm Alumni Hall 
by Trent Williams - Mustangs Athletics 

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ONDON Ont. - The Western Mustangs men's Basketball team (7-7) is looking to right the ship after dropping their last three games. They'll get that opportunity against the Waterloo Warriors (8-6) on Jan. 27 at Alumni Hall, with tip off going at 8 p.m.

The playoffs are just down the road and the team currently sits in 5th place in the OUA West division with a 7-7 record. However, with 14 points, the team is simply one win away from jumping up into 3rd place in the tight standings. The top six teams will make it into the playoffs from both the West and East division, with the top two teams getting a bye in the first round.

The Mustangs struggled in their last game, falling 93-64 to McMaster without the support of Garrett Olexiuk (Burlington, Ont.) who sat out with a bruised knee. While preparing for the Warriors it's unsure if Olexiuk will be in the line-up.

"Garrett will be a game time decision for Wednesday." said Western Mustangs men's basketball head coach Brad Campbell.

Despite not getting desired results in the previous games, there has been some positives that Campbell has seen with his team, as well as some areas that he knows the team needs to improve upon.

"We continue to scrap and fight when things aren’t going well. We will need that more and more as we get closer to the playoffs," said Campbell. "We need to continue to work at the little things and improve on our play in the 2nd half half and 4th quarter especially"

Up against the Warriors, Campbell is looking for his team to have a much improved effort. As playoffs creep up on the Mustangs each and every game has more meaning, and it will be treaded as such.

"Waterloo is a disciplined and mature team. They have lots of senior players and will execute and play with experience. Every game from here on in has playoff implications, each will also have a playoff like atmosphere," said the fourth year coach Campbell.

After playing host to the Warriors, the Mustangs will travel to Wilfrid Laurier to take on the Golden Hawks (6-8) on Jan. 30 at 3 p.m. at the Laurier AthleticComplex. The team won't play another home game until Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. when they host the Guelph Gryphons (5-9) at Alumni Hall.