In their final home game of the season and in their annual Seniors' Night game, the Algoma Thunderbirds took on the Queen's Gaels. The men's team flew past the Gaels in their biggest upset of the season, 71-60.
In the men's game, the home team drew the first blood, jumping out 4-0. Both teams battled back and forth with Algoma edging ahead, 12-5 early on. Evenly matched, both teams went shot for shot, with Algoma clinging to a 3-point advantage going into the second.
Back to back threes from Queen's tied the game at 21.
Sean Clendinning drained a three at the two-minute mark and 2 consecutive blocks from
Reng Gum helped Algoma edge ahead 32-27. A jumper from
Brett Zufelt with six seconds left gave Algoma their biggest lead of the game going into the second half.
The fast pace continued into the third with Algoma holding strong. The Thunderbirds went 3-4 from the charity stripe in the final seconds to pull ahead 56-47 going into the final 10 minutes. A shot from inside from
Jacob Clendinning allowed Algoma to break the 10-point threshold. Queen's struggled to get the ball to fall while Algoma continued to drive widening the margin to 16. The Thunderbirds upset the Gaels, winning their fifth game of the season, 71-60.
All three captains of the squad led the team in points.
Sean Clendinning led the squad with 24 points and 3 boards.
Andre Barber chipped in with 18 points followed by Zufelt with 12.
Reng Gum had 10 boards in the win. Sukhpreet Singh from Queen's earned 15 baskets.
The men improve to 5-13 in the West and Queen's falls to 10-7 in the East.
Zufelt and Barber were honoured this evening in the Seniors' Nights game. They will be graduating at this year's June Convocation ceremony. Zufelt will graduate will from Business Administration with a minor in Marketing. Barber will earn a Sociology degree.
