LONDON, Ont. — The No. 7 nationally-ranked Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men's basketball team defeated the No. 4 Western Mustangs on Saturday evening, 85-59 at Alumni Hall.

The game was evenly matched for most of the first quarter, with neither team finding the bottom of the basket. 

Western ran their signature zone defence that had been terrorizing teams all season, looking to slow down the Bold's touches in the paint.

Luckily for TMU, though, a zone defence leaves an open gap in the middle of the floor, and their superstar guard Aaron Rhooms loves to play there.

By moving the ball around the perimeter and shifting the position of Western's defenders, the Bold created openings for passes inside to Rhooms, who has made a living off mid-range jumpshots during his legendary OUA career.

Rhooms kicked things off by scoring TMU's first basket on a midrange. The score officially ranked him as the program's all-time leader in field goals made, an incredible accomplishment for an incredible player. The fifth-year is slowly climbing up the Bold, OUA, and U SPORTS history books this season, having recently broken into the top 20 in the U SPORTS all-time leading scoring list.

After a relatively tight 23-8 first quarter where Rhooms notched nine of his game-high 24 points, TMU Coach David DeAveiro and his squad began to pull away.

It was the Bold's defence, not offence, that helped them grow a lead, though. They collapsed in the paint and forced the Mustangs players to beat them from the three-point line: a high-IQ strategy from DeAveiro. 

Western shoots the eighth-best three-point percentage in the province, but sit way down in 15th when it comes to three-pointers attempted. By baiting them into taking more long-range shots than they're comfortable with, TMU psyched out the Mustangs. Western shot a lowly 4-33 from distance in the match: just 12%. 

The Mustangs finished the match with only 59 points, 25 points less than their season average.

The Bold have been the cause of poor shooting nights from plenty of their opponents this season, sitting at number-one in the province for opponent's three-point percentage at just 25.6%. The strategy is a key part of DeAveiro's coaching style, and it helped TMU overcome a higher-ranked Mustangs squad on Saturday night.

Another key to the Bold's defence was centre Aidan Wilson, who used his height to cause havoc around the rim.

At 6-11 with the wingspan of a pterodactyl, Wilson towered over the Mustangs' smaller team. Western, whose tallest player stands at just 6-9, could do nothing but watch as the fifth-year skied for rebounds and lobs in the paint. Because zone offences frequently give up rebounds, Wilson had even more of a free pass to get his hands on the ball and tip it to teammates for extra possessions.

The big man finished with eight of his ten points and five of his eight rebounds in the second quarter, and the Bold soared out to a 49-32 lead at half.

A highlight in the third quarter for TMU was third-year guard/forward Deandre Goulbourne. Coming off of an OUA career-high 23 point-outing in the Bold's previous game against the Windsor Lancers, the OCAA transfer stayed hot and provided his squad with some timely three-point makes. 

He finished with 15 points and a tied-for-team-high eight rebounds in the game, carrying the load for fellow wing Gabriel Gutsmore, who didn't appear on the night for the Bold.

After ballooning their lead to nearly thirty by the start of the fourth, TMU were able to give their starters a much-needed rest after a second-straight weekend of back-to-back games.

The final buzzer sounded with the Bold leading by 26, improving their record to 12-4 on the season. They sit second in the OUA's Central Division, behind only the Brock Badgers.

DeAveiro's squad sees the court next on January 30 at home against the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m., and students can enter the game for free with their OneCards.