Mac gets its first real test
Winning the first two games of the regular season was nice. Remaining undefeated from the start of the pre-season and extending the winning streak to 17 was lovely. Reinforcing the trust of voters who said they were the third-best basketball team in the country was great, too.
But Wednesday night matters more than any of it. By a long, long way.
When the McMaster Marauders take on Brock in a men’s game at Burridge Gym — tip-off is at 8 p.m. — it will be the first chance to prove something against a powerhouse program in the province of powerhouses.
The Badgers come into the game as the eighth-ranked team in Canada and fourth-ranked in Ontario which has half the top-10 teams in the country. Last week, McMaster head coach Amos Connolly explained that he wouldn’t know whether his side’s terrific pre-season was an accurate gauge on how good they were until they faced some of the provincial monsters. This is that first real test. Mac kept its record unblemished when it opened the season with a pair of home-court victories (82-76 and 62-56) over Lakehead on the weekend. Brock, meanwhile, kicked off its campaign with a 71-69 win over Toronto.
On the women’s side, the nationally second-ranked Marauders — they jumped a spot from last week — also swept Lakehead with scores of 63-58 and 75-65. McMaster alltime leading scorer Danielle Boiago set a personal single-game record with 31 points in the opener, earning her female athlete-of-the-week honours.
The women face Brock — which beat Toronto 67-49 in their only game of the season so far — at 6 p.m.
Across town, Mohawk College’s women’s team beat Sault 82-40 and 69-48 on the weekend to improve to 4-0 this season. It’s earned them the second-place ranking in Ontario. On the men’s side, two wins over Sault — 97-66 and 82-72 — evened the provincially 10th-ranked Mountaineers’ record at 2-2.
And at Redeemer, a 61-49 loss to St. Clair College was the Royals’ women’s team’s first defeat of the season. They won their first three games. Meanwhile, the men dropped to 0-2 with a 98-82 loss to St. Clair on Saturday.
Redeemer’s next home game is Saturday when 3-2 Fanshawe visits. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. for the women and 8 for the men.
Neither Mohawk team plays at home again until Nov. 29.
sradley@thespec.com 905-526-2440 | @radleyatthespec Spectator columnist Scott Radley hosts The Scott Radley Show weeknights 7-9 on 900CHML.