McMaster men's basketball played its final OUA conference game and defeated the Guelph Gryphons 89-76 in Guelph on Friday night. While the Marauders had already clinched a playoff bye going into the game, the Gryphons were still fighting to make it into the post-season.

The Marauders trailed 15-10 midway through the opening quarter, but outscored the Gryphons 10-3 to end the period to take a 20-18 lead after 10 minutes.  Trevon McNeil had a strong start to the game with 8 points in the first quarter.

The teams continued to jockey back and forth in the second stanza, and a late hoop from the Gryphons provided the home team with a 37-36 lead at the half of a contest they were desperate to win.

The Marauders went on 9-2 run to start the third quarter, forcing Guelph to call a timeout, but McMaster kept up the pressure and drove the lead up to 54-41 after the Gryphon break.

The defensive pressure that the Marauders brought resulted in numerous Guelph turnovers and the maroon lead was 63-51 by the end of the third quarter.

The final quarter was played fairly even and the Gryphons were unable to mount the comeback they needed, as the Marauders completed the victory.

McMaster ends conference play with a 14 and 5 record, while Guelph has one game remaining versus Brock and now needs some help to make the OUA playoffs.

Leon Alexander paced the balanced Mac attack with 18 points, with Troy Joseph and Aaron Redpath each scoring 17, and McNeil 14 off the bench. Top shooter for Guelph was Jon Wallace with 23.

The Marauders will next be at home for an OUA quarterfinal contest on Saturday, March 5th and will face the winner between Laurentian and Windsor, who play in the preliminary round.  Game time at the Burridge Gym is 2-PM