GUELPH, Ont. - The Guelph Gryphons men's basketball team took the court on Wednesday night (Jan. 25) at the Gryphon Athletic Centre looking to pick up their 6th win on the 2022-23 season against the Laurentian Voyageurs. The U of G men came into Wednesday's game coming off of back-to-back wins against the Waterloo Warriors last week, looking to make it three in a row for the second time this season. In what proved to be a physical game, the Gryphons would leave with a 90-71 win to improve to 6-9 on the season. 

The first quarter had the Gryphon faithful in attendance expecting a tightly contested match between the Gryphns and Voyageurs after both teams shot the ball well, 54% & 42% respectively, and took care of their possessions. After the first 10 minutes the Gryphons would hold a narrow 22-19 lead after Khalid Ismail made back-to-back layups to close out the quarter. Ismail, a 6-foot-3 guard from Toronto, had one of his best games of the season on Wednesday, scoring 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting while adding 4 assists. The second frame was the Gryphons best period defensively, holding Laurentian to just 9 points and 20% from the field while opening with a 14-2 run. The Gryphons would shoot 40% and hit 4 three-pointers in the second frame to go into halftime with a 44-26 lead. 

In the third quarter the Gryphon offense continued to roll, scoring 23 points, led by Rasheed Weekes' 9 on 4-of-5 shooting. Weekes would end the game with 13 points and 7 rebounds in 19 minutes of action. The Gryphons would continue their impressive shooting into the second half as well, going 9-of-17 for 53% to extend their lead by six over the visiting Voyageurs. By the end of 30 minutes the Gryphons would build a 22-point lead over Laurentian with one quarter of action remaining. The final quarter proved to be a similar story with the Gryphons shooting nearly 60% with their eyes set of win number six of the season. Despite being outscored by the Voyageurs 26-23 the U of G men would have no problem closing this one out and leave the Gryphon Athletic Centre with a 90-71 win. 

In addition to strong performances from Weekes and Ismail, rookie guard Dezayne Mingo had a career night. The 6-foot-4 Hamilton native did it all, scoring 11 points while bringing down 9 rebounds and finding teammates for scores 8 times to come incredibly close to a triple-double. Alongside Mingo, Dylan McFee had another impressive performance, scoring 15 points which included 3 three-pointers. Wrapping up the Gryphon to reach double digit points was standout guard/forward Emmanuel Ansah, who contributed 11 points to the Gryphon victory on 4-of-9 shooting. 

THe Gryphons (6-9) will look to make it four in a row when they return to the Gryphon Athletic Centre and play host to the Nipissing Laker on Sunday afternoon (Jan. 29). Tip is set for 8pm following the women's match with tickets available at gryphons.ca/tickets. fans unable to attend can catch the game live, online at www.oua.tv.