GUELPH, Ont. - Having started the 2020 portion of their OUA regular season schedule with two straight wins, the Guelph Gryphons were looking to make it three in a row Wednesday night at the GGAC. Playing host to the Laurier Golden Hawks, Guelph managed to withstand the visitors and pull away late for an 83-75 victory.
In a game that saw two tightly contested teams go toe to toe with each other, the Gryphons took over the game in the final 3:25 of regulation. Leading by just three at the time, the Gryphons went on a 16-9 run to close out the game and pull into a tie with Laurier and Windsor for second in the OUA's West division.
Led by 22 points from Malcolm Glanville and 16 more from Rasheed Weekes, the Gryphons were able to establish the tempo in the early stages of the contest.
Holding the Golden Hawks to just 27 points in the first half, the home side held a 34-27 lead at the break.
However, Laurier was not going to go away easily. 
The Golden Hawks responded with a strong third quarter which had the game tied 51-51 heading into the final ten minutes of regulation.
With the game hanging in the balance and both teams going back and forth, the Gryphons soon found themselves having to deal with some unwanted adversity. Driving towards the paint, Gryphon's forward and Guelph native, Tommy Yanchus went down with an injury and did not return for the remainder of the game. However, his Gryphon teammates stepped up in his place, going on their lopsided run to end the game, securing their big victory.
Yanchus left the game having already tallied 15 points.Â
Having strong nights on the stat sheet, Kieran Naus led the Gryphons with eight rebounds, while Keenan Dowell recorded a team high seven assists.
"We had really talked about setting the tone defensively in this game, and I thought we did a great job of that in the first half," said Gryphon's head coach Chris O'Rourke. "Laurier is a very good team and we knew they would make runs at us but we stayed true to what we wanted to do, and that was to impose our presence defensively."
Looking to make it four straight victories to begin the new year, the Gryphons will return back to their home court on Sunday. Guelph will welcome the Lakehead Thunderwolves to the GGAC with tip-off scheduled for 2:00.
