GUELPH, ON – It was the shot heard 'round the W.F. Mitchell Athletics Centre. Not to mention the shot of Taylor Boers' life.

Boers' buzzer-beater lifted the Guelph Gryphons past the Windsor Lancers 81-80 in OUA men's basketball action on Friday night.

The third-year guard from Belleville, ON took an inbounds pass from Daniel Dooley with 1.5 seconds left on the clock and drained it from just inside the arc, sending the home crowd into a frenzy. Ecstatic, Boers raced to the other end of the court before being mobbed by his teammates.

"Words can't describe how I felt," he said afterward outside the Gryphs' locker room. "It was a surreal moment. It was awesome."

The win capped a see-saw affair that opened with Guelph jumping out to a very early 10-0 lead. Windsor erased the deficit and led 26-20 after one quarter, then took a 45-37 lead just before the half.

The Gryphs, who trailed by as many as 10 points midway through the second quarter, regained command in the third frame. The two squads traded leads throughout the final quarter, with Windsor pulling in front one last time on Alex Campbell's free throw with 22.8 seconds left. That set the stage for Boers.

"Oh, hands down," he said when asked if the buzzer-beater was the shot of his life. "That was my first one ever. I've never had a game-winner before. I've had half-time ones (buzzer-beaters), but not at the end of the game like that."

It's true that 1.5 seconds isn't a lot of time, but it's still enough to be able to get a clean shot away if you happen to find someone in the open. That's exactly what happened on Friday, as Boers broke away from the man guarding him. He caught the pass cleanly and didn't hesitate as he turned and put the ball up toward the net.

"It felt really good," he said of the shot as he let it go.

"I said to the guys, you've got time to catch and shoot," said Gryphs head coach Chris O'Rourke. "And we made a little scramble and got an open shot."

Boers, who finished with eight points, was one of a number of Guelph players who stepped up with big games. Jonathan Wallace led the team with 19 points and Ahmed Haroon added 18. Daniel Dooley contributed 12 points and was a perfect eight-for-eight from the free-point line. Kingslee D'Silva just missed a double-double, collecting nine points and 13 rebounds.

Four Lancers ended up in double figures – Mike Rocca with 23 points, Isiah Osborne with 21, Alex Campbell with 14 and Marko Kovac with 12. Both teams now have 4-5 records in OUA play this season.

"They're a dangerous team. We knew how athletic they were, and talented," O'Rourke said of the Lancers. "They score a lot of points and they try to go uptempo. We got off to a great start, but then we relaxed. We didn't get the same energy and execution from our bench when they came in, and all of a sudden we were down. Then we had to hang on for the rest of the half.

"We made some adjustments at halftime and the guys did a better job of executing."

The Gryphs have won both of their games since the Christmas break, both at home, but now they're on the road for the next month. They'll play their next six games away from the W.F. Mitchell Athletics Centre, starting at Brock on January 30 in St. Catharines. The Badgers are the No. 4-ranked team in Canada, as of the latest CIS survey earlier this week.

"We really need to be mentally composed," O'Rourke said. "Part of what's been positive the last two games is we beat a ranked team in Western and a very good team in Windsor. We've shown that we can play with anybody. Now we've got to prove it on the road."

Guelph won't return home until February 17, when Ryerson pays a visit. That'll be the first of four consecutive home games to end the regular season.