GUELPH, Ont. – Friday night at the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre, the Gryphons men's basketball team showed they can go toe-to-toe with the best the country has to offer. In the end, the Gryphons' hard-fought effort would not be enough as the visiting Brock Badgers, the No. 2-ranked team in Canada, left Guelph with a 99-88 victory.
 
 A tight opening half saw the Gryphons (3-13) trailing 42-40 in the late stages of the second quarter. Brock (13-2) would seize the momentum with an important 8-0 run over the final 1:08 to take a 10-point lead into the locker room at the break. The Gryphons would respond nicely by pouring in 31-points in the third quarter, but were unable to fully close the gap with the Badgers responding throughout the final quarter.
 
Brock was led by their 6-7 senior forward Dani Elgadi (Waterloo, ON) who finished the night with 26 points (11-16) and 14 rebounds. With Elgadi leading the way, the Badgers out-rebounded the Gryphons 42-25 on the night, including 9 offensive rebounds.
 
The Gryphons were led offensively by senior guard Taylor Boers, who finished with a team-high 17 points. Boers was one of five Gryphons to score in double figures on the night, with Craig Valeriote (10 points) and Rasheed Weekes (10 points) both chipping in with some nice performances off the bench. Valeriote accounted for two of his team's six three-pointers on the night. Second year guard Jake Chaput also put in some solid mintes, shooting 4-of-5 from the field for 8 points in 12 minutes of action. Gryphons sophomore forward Banky Alade was an efficient 6-8 from the field for 13 points in 16 minutes of floor time, while senior guard Daniel Dooley added 10 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Gryphons fifth year guard Jonathan Wallace entered the game having scored in double figures in each of his previous seven games, including an 18-point performance at Western two nights ago, was locked down by the Badgers and finished the night with 6 points on 2-13 shooting.
 
While the Gryphons have continued to put up some big numbers offensively, with the team averaging just over 86 points per game over their last three games, coming up with stops against the potent Brock attack proved to be a struggle on Friday night. The Gryphons certainly were not the first team to struggle to slow down the Badgers, who rank third in the conference in scoring at 84.1 points per game. Brock's 99-points on Friday night were just two shy of matching their season high, which came in a 101-72 win at York back on November 3.
 
The Gryphons will get another shot at knocking off the No. 2-ranked Badgers on Wednesday (Jan. 24) when they travel to St. Catharines. Tip is set for 8pm and can be seen live online at oua.tv.