It was hot and humid in the Burridge Gym, but the McMaster men's basketball team saw its shooting touch turn frosty in the fourth quarter, getting outscored 31-13 to drop an 80-69 decision to Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (IPFW) in exhibition action on Saturday night.

The Marauders were inhospitable hosts to start the contest, jumping out to an 11-0 lead, but by the end of the first quarter the visitors had come back to take an 18-17 lead. 

The second quarter saw the teams jockey back and forth, before McMaster closed the half on an 8-0 run that included back to back treys from Joe Rocca and Aaron Redpath, taking a 32-25 advantage into the intermission.

IPFW looked to exploit its size advantage in the third quarter and pounded the ball inside to Steve Forbes, who used all of his 6-foot-9 and 300 lb. frame to get some easy hoops in the paint.  But the Marauders responded with some solid play from Taylor Black and Leon Alexander and the teams played an even quarter, leaving the Maroon with a 56-49 lead heading to the final stanza.

In the fourth, IPFW kept pushing the pace and McMaster went cold from the floor.  The Mastodons took the lead at 60-58 and McMaster had no answer.  Forbes continued to score on the inside and the Marauders struggled to find any offensive rhythm and committed several turnovers down the stretch, allowing the visitors to build up their winning margin.

Mastodon Steve Forbes was the game's high scorer with 19 points, followed by Michael Calder with 14 and Mo Evans with 11.   For McMaster, the top shooter was Taylor Black with 16 points and a game-high eight rebounds.  Marauders Joe Rocca with 14, Aaron Redpath with 13 and Leon Alexander with 11 also hit for double figures. 

For the game IPFW shot 48.5% from the floor, while McMaster only made 37% of its field goal attempts.  The Marauders out-rebounded the Mastodons 42-39 for the game.

BOX SCORE