The men’s basketball team have won two of their three games since the winter semester began.
The first home game of the new year was on Jan. 23 when they played host to the Seneca Sting. The Thunder came out strong, ending the first quarter with a 14-4 lead. Their first 12 points all came from three pointers.
But the Sting fought back in the second quarter. By the quarter’s end, the Thunder’s lead was cut to just three, with a score of 31-28 going into halftime.
The Sting continued their climb back into the game, tying the score at 37 early on in the third quarter. They managed to keep it close for the next little while, but the Thunder would regain the lead, heading into the fourth up 54-50.
The Thunder had no problem sealing the win with a stellar offensive fourth quarter, putting up an impressive 24 points, allowing just 12.
Owen Powers, Thunder player and business marketing student, was pleased with the team’s performance for most of the game.
“We had a bad second quarter. Great first quarter, defensively we gave up 4 points, and in the second quarter we gave up 24,” Powers said after the home win. “That can’t happen if we’re going to be a playoff team. We played better in the third and fourth quarter again, but we can’t have even one quarter like we did in the second. That was the biggest thing, if we didn’t have that second quarter, we win the game by 30.”
Their first game of 2016 was an 81-71 win over Loyalist Lancers in Belleville on Jan. 15, the Thunder’s fourth consecutive win. Kristian Charette led the team with 23 points.
The next day they visited the St. Lawrence Vikings in Kingston. Charette led the team in scoring again with 18 points in the 93-74 loss.
Powers said the main reason for their struggle against the Vikings was because it was the second of the back-to-back games.
“Well, last week I think our energy was low,” Powers explained. “We played a back to back last week. So I think in that second game we kind of lost our legs, our energy wasn’t there.”
Thunder coach Trevor Costello said their defensive play in Kingston was an issue as well.
“The St. Lawrence team is very good, they’ve got one of the best players in the league and we couldn’t contain him. That’s one of the main reasons we lost, we couldn’t contain quick guards, and that’s our weakness, containing quick guards.”