The York University Lions men's basketball team came up short on Saturday (Nov. 21) against the ninth-ranked McMaster Marauders by a score of 88-74 at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
 
The Lions played a strong first quarter and held a one-point advantage after the first 10 minutes of play, at 22-21, but the Marauders found their offensive touch in the second to pull ahead 49-39 at the half. The visitors continued that strong play into the third quarter, outscoring the Lions by their biggest margin (12) to take a commanding 74-52 lead.
 
The Lions picked up their play in the fourth quarter and held the Marauders to just 14 points while scoring 22 themselves, but it wasn't enough to upset McMaster.
 
The key factor in the Marauders victory over the Lions was the three ball. McMaster went 7-17 from beyond the arc, where the Lions struggled going 10-32 from deep. Usual deep threat Tommy Hobbs (Anchorage, Alaska) was effective in other areas Saturday night, as he was a spark plug for the Lions picking up the occasional basket and gathering timely rebounds. Hobbs finished the game with a team-high nine rebounds and added seven points.
 
The Lions were led in scoring by first year guard Jayden Frederick (Scarborough, Ont.) with 15 points, who slashed through the paint for the majority of his buckets.
 
Point guard Shane Reader (York, Ont.), who is ranked second in the OUA in assists per game, quarterbacked the Lion offence efficiently throughout the match, facilitating the ball and controlling the pace of the game. Reader finished Saturday night with a stat line of nine points and four assists.
 
Leon Alexander of the Marauders was a tough guard on Saturday evening as he finished with a game-high 26 points to lead his squad.
 
The McMaster Marauders are now 4-2 on the season, while the Lions fell to 2-3 with the loss. The Lions will look to get back into the win column next weekend (Nov. 27) on the road in Waterloo, Ont., when they face off against the 0-5 Warriors.