Men's basketball rolls over Marauders in semi
By Chris Kerr
Lance Writer
March 4, 2009
 The Windsor Lancers men’s basketball team could have fought he McMaster Marauders without their lances.
What was to be a basketball battlefield conflict for a West Championship spot turned out to be merely a massacre as the Lancers completely dominated the game on Saturday in front of a packed St. Denis Centre.
With this win, the Lancers will gallop to London for the OUA West Championship against the Western Mustangs on Wednesday.
The game got off to a good start for the Lancers who sent a message early, and did not trail at any time.
Windsor’s towering forwards, six-foot-eight Greg Surmacz and six-foot-seven Nigel Johnson-Tyghter helped their team take a 37-23 lead after the first half. Surmacz and Johnson-Tyghter consistently drained outside shots and kept the ball on the offensive, giving the Windsor fans a good show.
Lancers six-foot guard Corey Boswell played consistently impressive throughout the game. Boswell, played like a young Damon Stoudamire.
Despite being battered around, he picked himself up and commenced to pick everything else up including three-point shots, blocks, accurate passes and lay-ups.
Boswell finished with nine baskets and five assists even though he had limited duty, being that the team played all 12 dressed players owing to their steady domination.
After a tense start to the second half, Lancers’ senior guard Matt Handsor, allowed the spectators to stop biting their nails when he nailed a clutch three-point shot.
Handsor was definitely a crowd favourite, hitting threes like they owed him money.
Handsor led the Lancers in scoring with 19 points. Seven of eight of Handsor’s three-point shots were good.
Someone has clearly been practicing in their driveway, as the second half belonged almost solely to him.
The Lancers’ Surmacz, also lit up McMaster with 15 points and six rebounds, despite still playing with a broken finger.
Isaac Kuon and Johnson-Tyghter each finished with 10 points, while Andre Smyth added eight rebounds and was almost entirely impenetrable defensively.
At one point Smyth even showed some long-range accuracy, sinking an early three-pointer.
While basketballs were flying into the net for Windsor the entire night, McMaster’s Head Coach Joe Raso was flying off the handle, nearly getting a technical foul.
Lancers Head Coach Chris Oliver was satisfied with the big win, and how his boys played, but celebration time will come after they win the championship. Now is the time to focus.
“We should stay focused,” said Oliver, “We’ve been playing against the ‘big-game’ teams all year, so we should be ready for Wednesday [against Western].”
There wasn’t too much Oliver could say in form of criticizing his squad. The team stuck to their game plan and it worked out in their favour.
“We won because we played physical. We defended real well, rebounded well, and when we do that it usually translates into a win for us.”
The final score was a staggering 71-48 victory for Windsor, who rotated the bench heavily toward the game’s end.
The Lancers are set to tip-off against their rivals, the Western Mustangs, the divisional champions, at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in London where the winner will move on to the CIS National Championship Tournament in Ottawa.
So far this season, the Lancers have split their schedule against the Mustangs, winning when they played at home, but losing their last game to them on the road.
Before going to the CIS Championships, the men, should they win, will host the east winner on Saturday March 7. They will likely face the Carleton Ravens, to whom the Lancers gave their only loss of the season.
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