KINGSTON, Ont. (February 6, 2016)- Sukhpreet Singh recorded a game-high 36 points, and the Queen's Gaels men's basketball team picked up their second-straight win on Saturday night at the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC), defeating the Lakehead Thunderwolves 80-72.
 
Singh shot an impressive 14-of-27 from the field, and added nine rebounds, two assists and a steal for the Gaels, and Ryall Stroud (Toronto) tallied 13 points while Tanner Graham (Kingston) added 10 boards in the victory.
 
Queen's (9-5) continue to solidify their second place standing in the OUA East, sitting only behind the CIS No. 1 ranked Ryerson Rams (12-1). Bacarius Dinkins picked up a team-best 25 points in a losing cause for the Thunderwolves (7-6), who remain third in the OUA Central.
 

MUST SEE - Stroud finishes off a nice dish from Paclibar with a two-handed slam! Gaels win in 80-72 #GoGaelsGo pic.twitter.com/RGuuBiDYQu

— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) February 7, 2016

GAME FLOW
The hosts jumped out to an 8-2 lead early in the contest, thanks in part to two jumpers from Mike Shoveller (Arnprior, Ont.). A three-point play from Singh was followed by a corner jumper from beyond the arc by Andrew Mavety (Vancouver, B.C), pushing their lead up to eight.
 
The Thunderwolves found their offensive footing in the latter stages of the opening quarter, however, going on an 8-0 run to bridge the gap to a single point. Singh responded with a three-pointer at the buzzer to push the lead back up to four at the end of the first.
 
The Toronto native picked up where he left off in the second period after scoring 10 in the first, continuing to carry the Gaels offense. After the Thunderwolves took their first lead at the 2:16 mark of the second, Singh responded with four-straight points as the teams exchanged leads throughout the middle portion of the quarter.
 
He would go on to score 12 more in the second quarter for a first-half high of 22 points, and his back-to-back baskets in the final minute of the half gave the men a 37-34 lead at the break.
 
A three-pointer by Graham after a drive and kick-out from Singh pushed the Gael lead back up to four early in the third quarter. The hometown native hit another jumper from distance to help Queen's maintain its slight advantage. The Thunderwolves would not go away, however, taking over the lead at one point and always staying well within striking distance of the Gaels, who held a 53-49 heading into the fourth quarter.
 
After a quieter third period, Singh came to life once again in the final stanza, scoring four-straight points after a base-line drive and lay-up by Graham, nearly doubling Queen's lead three minutes into the fourth.
 
After a 6-0 run by the visitors brought the deficit down to one, Singh once again had the answer, first using a tough drive and lay-in with lots of bodies in the post to hit a reverse and following that up with another strong move to the basket and two more points. After Sammy Ayisi (Toronto) hit a three, Singh picked up another four points, as the Lakehead defence had no answer for his penetration runs in the post.
 
The game was put on ice with a big slam dunk from Stroud off a drive and dish from Marc Paclibar (Minesing, Ont.) with just over a minute remaining, putting a stamp on the men's ninth win of the regular season.
 
FINAL SAY
"Lakehead has been great lately, they're always tough, play defence with a lot of effort and are always prepared," said Head Coach Stephan Barrie. "Even when we were taking leads, the message was the same. We cannot stop cause they are not going away. You are going to have to earn this one and our guys did a good job of that."
 
On Singh's performance
"What we want out of Sukh more than anything is efficiency. He has some games where although he still scores, the efficiency part may not be exactly where we want it to be. So tonight, 36 points is great, but he also got nine rebounds, two assists, was great from the free-throw line, and had zero turnovers. So his positive impact on the game is that much greater. He was just an efficient player tonight for us."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
3- Singh has now scored 30+ points in three conference games in 2015-16
4- The Gaels shot over 80% from the free-throw line for the fourth occasion on Saturday (81.0%)
10- The men turned the ball over a season-low of 10 times against the Thunderwolves
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels return to the ARC next weekend to host Western and Windsor on Friday and Saturday respectively. Both games will tip-off at approximately 8:00 p.m.