Gryphon hoops men topped by Western, don’t make playoffs
LONDON – The Guelph Gryphons saw their OUA men’s basketball season come to an end Saturday with a 104-95 loss to the Western Mustangs at Western’s Alumni Hall.
The Gryphs finish seventh in the West Division standings at 5-9 with a .357 winning percentage. Western finishes fifth at 7-8 and .467 and the Windsor Lancers were sixth at 7-9 and .438. Top six qualify for the playoffs.
Western 104 Guelph Gryphons 95
The Gryphs trailed by 17 points with 6:49 to go in the fourth quarter, but staged a comeback that saw them cut the gap to four points with 31 seconds remaining. However, they were forced to foul after that in an attempt to gain possession of the ball and the hosts made them pay by sinking five of six foul shots.
Guelph had led 20-15 at the end of the first quarter before falling behind 43-42 by halftime. Western stretched the lead to 76-69 in the third quarter.
Keenan Dowell led the Gryphs with 30 points, seven rebounds, a block and three steals while Malcolm Glanville netted 25 points and also had six rebounds, eight assists and two steals. Viktor Nausedas had 15 points and seven rebounds and Rasheed Weekes had 12 points and 17 rebounds.
Omar Shiddo had a game-high 35 points with six rebounds, six assists and five steals for Western while Jerric Palma had 19 points and three steals and Aaron Tennant had 14 steals, six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Tyson Dunn added 14 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals and Aryan Sharma had nine points and seven rebounds.
Three days earlier, the Gryphs were buoyed by a record performance by Glanville as they led all the way for a 108-100 win over the Mustangs at the Guelph Gryphons Athletic Centre.
Glanville hit for a school record 44 points as he hit 15-of-20 field goal attempts including two of five three-pointers and he also sank 12 of 15 free throws. Glanville also had eight rebounds and three assists. Weekes had 20 points, 12 rebounds and four steals and Dowell had 18 points. Brandon Halliburton added 10 points.
Shiddo had 28 points and Sharma 26 for Western while Palma had 12 and Isaiah Pemberton 10. Tennant had seven rebounds, two blocks and three steals while Shiddo had five assists and three steals.
Previous Gryphon single-game record output was 41 points, originally set by Henry Vandenburg in 1978 and equaled 32 years later by Jay Mott. Glanville finishes his time with the Gryphons with four of the team’s top 10 all-time single-game scoring performances as he had 39 twice in games 11 days apart early in 2019. Vandenburg’s big game was the only one in the top 10 set before 2010.
- Guelph Sports Journal