Men's basketball team rallies to edge York
The men's basketball team came out on top against the York University Lions on Friday night in a down-to-the-wire victory of 74-72.
But by no means was this an easy victory for the Rams. Although the Lions only had two victories going into Friday’s game, they pushed the Rams right to the final seconds of the game.
The Lions came out hungry and dominated the Rams throughout the first half leaving Ryerson to stare at a 19-point deficit, 52-33 going into the locker room at halftime.
But the Rams refused to let up, beginning the second half on a 15-0 run they were able to cut the Lions lead down to nine at the end of the third quarter.
The two teams exchanged points in the fourth quarter, but some clutch free throw shooting from star guard Boris Bakovic, who led all scorers with 22 points, and a few late three pointers by guard Kevin McNeilly, catapulted Ryerson to a major comeback victory.
The victory improves the Rams season record to 5-8 while the Lions drop to 2-11.
“It was a gut-check win,” said head coach Roy Rana. “We fought through a lot of adversity, and anytime you can fight back from 22 [points] down on someone else’s court its huge.”
Friday’s game marked the first time these two teams rivals have met since the Lions knocked the Rams out of the playoffs last year by a score of 71-69 making the victory that much more enjoyable.
But coach Rana shrugged off any idea that there was a different atmosphere within his locker room before the game because of the rivalry between the two teams. “I think everybody just understood how important this game was. It was an important win.”
The Rams will now play their next three games on the road with stops at Laurentian, University, University of Ottawa, and Carleton University before heading back home to play Queen's University on February 5th.
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