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Mustangs rebound against Thunderbirds

November 1, 2011
By David Wright

There were no treats, just tricks on Sunday afternoon as the Mustangs men’s basketball team hosted the Algoma Thunderbirds at Alumni Hall.

Coming off a big 83-51 loss last Tuesday to the Wittenberg Tigers, the Mustangs rebounded in a big way by outscoring the Thunderbirds 65-54 in what was the Mustangs’ last preseason home game.

Securing a win on Sunday was crucial, as the Mustangs desperately needed momentum as they head into league play on November 11.

“We’ve been in a slump, so we definitely needed to get this win. I think we came out in the first half and played great. The team played with intensity and did a great job today,” Ryan Barbeau, Mustangs captain, said.

Although there were a lot of positives to take away from the contest, turnovers seemed to be a major issue in this game as the Thunderbirds capitalized on many of the turnovers the Mustangs gave up. Mustangs head coach Brad Campbell was clearly frustrated about this.

“Turnovers are an issue for us—decision making and also just a lack of execution. Sometimes we go off and do things on our own when we have to stick to what has been asked. And that leads to a lot of frustration, not only for the coaching staff but I think also for some of the veteran players too who understand what’s being asked of them,” Campbell explained.

Turnovers and executing on their possessions is also a problem that the Thunderbirds need to address.

“Limiting our turnovers, taking care of the ball and executing a little bit better […] but the main thing is limiting our turnovers,” Thomas Cory, Thunderbirds’ head coach, said.

Playing in his fifth season, Barbeau is the most experienced player on the Mustangs squad. He showed his mettle on Sunday by leading the way with a game high 16 points while first-year guard Jermaine Bernard impressed by scoring 11 points, including a couple of field goals beyond the arc. The rest of the points were evenly distributed between the young Mustangs squad.

With only two players beyond their second year, one can only wonder how this inexperience will affect the Mustangs’ performance throughout the season.

“We’re obviously very young. Our average age is under 20 years old. But we can’t really use that as an excuse as we continue to move forward. We have an experience problem and we’re going to have to learn on the fly,” Campbell said.

“A lot of these guys are going to have some baptism by fire to learn that way […] there’s been some lessons learned and we can be a little bit more ready come league play,” Campbell said.

Cory, however, had nothing but praise for the young Western squad.

“Western is a well-coached team and they execute very well,” Cory said.

“We competed with a good university team,” he continued

Happy with the results of Sunday’s game, the Mustangs will hope to move forward, improving and becoming stronger as a team. When they host the York Lions on November 11, every shot, every point, and every game will count.