GUELPH, Ont. - Wednesday night (Nov. 8, 2023) at the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre, the Gryphons men's basketball team suffered an 81-69 loss to the Waterloo Warriors. Fourth-year forward, Viktor Nausedas, led the way for the Gryphons in the loss, with the Mississauga native scoring a team-high 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field, to go along with 7 rebounds.
Emmanuel Ansah added a double-double on the night for the Gryphons with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but it was not enough for the Gryphons to pick up their first win of the 2023-24 season, with Guelph falling to 0-3 on the new season, while the Waterloo Warriors improve to 1-1.
After an impressive performance on Saturday night (Nov. 4) by the Gryphons, in which they took the defending national champion Carleton Ravens down to the wire, the Gryphons got off to an uncharacteristically slow start on Wednesday night versus Waterloo, with the Warriors building up a 22-point lead heading into halftime. In the 3rd quarter, the Gryphons started to respond, outscoring the Warriors 20-12 to get back into the game. The Gryphon comeback would continue into the 4th quarter, where a
Dylan McFee three-pointer trimmed the deficit, which was once as high as 24 points, down to just 8, with Waterloo's lead cut to 69-61 with 5:05 remaining in the final quarter. But it would be as close as the Gryphons would get, with the Warriors connecting on some perimeter shots down the stretch to help seal the road win for the Warriors for their first win of the season. Four different players scored in double figures for the Warriors, who shot 56.7% from the field as a team (34-60).
The Gryphons will not have to wait long for another shot at the Warriors, with the two teams set to square off on Saturday (4pm) at the University of Waterloo. The game can be seen live online at www.oua.tv.
