The men’s extramural basketball team’s season is finally underway and despite coming up short to start the season, the team is already gaining a reputation for being a dedicated squad, which is certainly a step in the right direction.

The boys took to the court for their second time this past Friday when they took on Lambton College from Sarnia. The team kept up to Lambton for most of the game, never being behind by more than a few points.  Unfortunately, the guys fell 73-52, but left the game in good spirits.

Team captain Mathew Wright agrees that the team was in it up until the end of the fourth quarter when Lambton started to pull away. Injuries the team sustained also played a big role in the loss. Wright was suffering from food poisoning and other key players, Dan Kandilas and Taram Hoogsteen were also held out of the lineup.

Despite the loss to Lambton the team showed great improvement from their first game against Redeemer College when the Golden Hawks were strongly outplayed.

“The boys played a great game and were really working together as a team. Although they were not able to pull together a win they definitely bonded as a team and showed great improvement over their first game against Redeemer last weekend,” says Recreation Program Coordinator Lynne Gulliver.

Gulliver believes that the team failed to play as a team against Redeemer, but that after the loss the team came together and made it a priority to fix their game and work on things that had not gone right.

During the first couple games Wright is proud of what he has seen from the guys – especially their level of compete against some strong competition.

“A lot of the teams we have played have national recruits and we still match up well to them. We’re a new squad and every game we’re getting better,” says Wright.

Gulliver believes the team is one full of dedication and hard work, which is great to see for a team just getting their feet off the ground.

“The team is one of the most dedicated extramural teams that we have on campus with all members committed to four practices a week as well as three tournaments and at the moment two exhibition games,” says Gulliver.

Moving forward, Wright believes the team needs to work on their defense and rebounding and continue to do the things they do well: hustling, shooting, passing, and communicating with each other on the court. As long as the team can continue to improve in these areas and do what they do well, there is no question that this team may be destined for some hardware, according to Gulliver.

“I feel that we do have a very strong team this year and there is great potential for us to do very well. I hope that we do win at least one tournament this year so we do qualify for the finals. I think that with the dedication and talent that is on this team there is a great chance of us doing this and I am very excited for what this team has in store,” says Gulliver.

The Hawks’ next action comes when they head to George Brown College on November 3 to take on the Huskies.