Basketball: OUA Men - Who wants third place more?

To answer the titular question, the Laurentian Voyageurs do. They put up 82 points on the York Lions and beat them soundly on their home turf.

The 82–69 win was a statement of where the powers in the stacked OUA East lie. The 4-5 Voyageurs now sit one and a half games back of the ninth-ranked Varsity Blues (6–2) in the division. The team can control their playoff destiny in January, as they are set to face the Blues Jan. 15 and the Ravens Jan. 21.

As for the Lions, they have been scratching to break out all season. So far, blowout losses to the Lancers (7–1) and Thunderwolves (6–2) and a narrow loss to the Warriors (4–4) have set the squad back a bit.

To make things worse, they traveled up to Sudbury and got off to a slow start Dec. 4. Outscored 21–14 and 20–12 in the first and second quarters respectively, the Lions simply did not have the legs to make a comeback. They turned it over 15 times, and were outrebounded 37–25 for the game. Lions’ guard Ostap Choliy led York with 16 points and 75 per cent shooting in a losing cause.

The Vees played quite well overall. The team shot 44 per cent from the floor, made seven three-pointers and tallied 16 assists. Manny Pasquale scored 25 points on 64 per cent shooting, and forward Mike Hull grabbed nine rebounds in a winning cause.