The York University Lions men's basketball team entered Saturday night's regular season finale against the TMU Bold locked into the OUA playoffs for the first time since 2019. The only thing left to be decided was seeding, and, with that, their opening round opponent. 

In all, eight potential scenarios existed with the potential of finishing anywhere from 8th to 12th in the standings. A win by more than four and a McMaster loss to Lakehead would have allowed the Lions to host their first home playoff game since 2015. Any other scenario had the Lions travelling in the opening round.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Lions came out firing on all cylinders, scoring the first five points. After leading 13-7, the host capped the first quarter on a 12-3 run and took a 25-10 lead after one quarter. The dynamic duo and reigning York co-male athletes of the week Evan Shadkami and Josh Noton combined for 15 of the 25 in the opening quarter
• The Bold responded in the second with a huge late-quarter run. After going down 33-16, the visitors put together a 12-1 spurt to cut the lead to six. However, the Lions went on a run of their own late in the quarter, scoring the first half's final six points to take a 40-28 lead to the break.
• In the third is where cracks in York's foundation began to emerge. For as suffocating as the Lions defence was in the first half, TMU's was all that and maybe more in the second half. York was held to just 13 third-quarter, and clinged to a three-point lead heading to the fourth.
• With the McMaster game still hanging in the balance, York still had a chance to clinch a home playoff game. However, TMU's defence continued to swarm Shadkami and Noton, not giving either one an inch of space to create. The Bold forced five turnovers and limited the Lions to just nine points in the fourth – and but 22 in the second half – to earn a 66-62 win.
• With the Lions loss, plus wins by McMaster and Brock, the Lions finish fifth in the OUA Central – thanks to losing the tiebreaker with Brock by virtue of an 0-2 head-to-head record, and will be the 11 seed in the OUA playoffs.

LOOKING AHEAD:

The Lions will battle the Laurier Golden Hawks in Waterloo in Round 1 on Wednesday night. York beat Laurier on the road back on Feb. 10, thanks in large part to Shadkami's 37 points. Visit yorkulions.ca in the coming days for the official start time.